John Calipari explains why he’s helping federal workers during shutdown

After eighth-ranked Kentucky shut down No. 22 Mississippi State 76-55 on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena, UK head coach John Calipari was asked about a different kind of shutdown.

Calipari said on his radio show this week that his foundation is helping federal workers who are not being paid during the government shutdown. The John and Ellen Calipari Foundation is working with local non-profit Reach to provide financial assistance to those workers. The coach was asked for an update on Tuesday.

“I wasn’t going to do anything, but I’m afraid this thing is going to keep going, and this is the shutdown. We have about 500 federal workers not being paid in our city. They work at the jail, TSA, agriculture, sheriffs. There’s about 500 people,” Calipari said. “And what we did, the initial thing was, let’s get them some — where they could go get gas. Folks, it’s literally a grant. They don’t have to pay it back. You know what I asked them to do? Pay it forward when you get paid. Give it to somebody else, and my hope is that they will.”

The video shows Calipari’s entire comments on the matter.

This story was originally published January 23, 2019 at 2:16 PM.