M. Levin & Company feeds workers despite government shutdown reprieve
Even after President Trump announced Jan. 25 a three-week reprieve from the partial government shutdown due to the Mexican border wall dispute, leaders of M. Levin and Company Inc. are channeling their sympathy into something proactive to help government employees who weren’t been paid for more than 35 days.
“We’re still on. We want to show our thanks and appreciation to the government workers in our community,” said Tracie Levin, general manager of the Philadelphia-based wholesale distributor of fresh fruits and vegetables. She’s also the fourth generation of the family owned and operated company.
Her father, Mark Levin, said before Trump’s announcement that he was outraged the nation’s civil servants have had to suffer and wanted to help.
“I think it’s a darn shame the way the government is treating their employees. This is not politics for the people; it’s politics for the politicians,” said Mark Levin, whose grandfather, Michael Levin, founded the company in 1906. “These are people who depend on these jobs for their livelihood, their income. And these people are working for us, and I feel that we owe them.”
M. Levin, based out of the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, invites all affected government employees to visit for food donations all next week, 8-11 a.m. Jan. 28 to Feb. 1, Tracie Levin said.
The company has six stalls, H2-H7, at the market, 6700 Essington Ave., and will donate fresh produce to furloughed employees who show their government work identification cards, she said. Each person should bring his or her own bag to fill up with a choice of fresh items.
“We really wanted to do something for the people in our community who aren’t getting paychecks right now, and this is something healthy for them to cook at home next week,” Tracie Levin said before Trump’s announcement. “Fresh produce, for many people, is a luxury as it is, so we hope this helps them out. Hopefully they will repay us in kindness in some other way, pay it forward in some small way someday.”
M. Levin and Company is known for its ripening and distribution of bananas along the East Coast, moving more than 30,000 cases a week, as well as its tropical fruit and standard full line of fresh vegetables and fruit, according to the release.
Giving back to the community is part of the family-owned and operated company’s mission.
“I wish we would’ve done something sooner, but we didn’t know it would stretch out this long,” Mark Levin said.
Trump said Jan. 25 that employees will be paid for those lost days of work, but if the border wall dispute isn’t resolved by Feb. 15, the partial government shutdown could resume.
