A dear Dominican friend of mine from LT sent me a message today asking if I could help him out as he has no money for food. I sent him $100 since - I had it and He has never asked for anything in the 4 years that I have been gone - I know him to be a proud man who would not ask if things were not dire. So 2 questions - is the government there doing anything to help the people during the shutdown? And I see that the exchange rate is about 58 to one but how does that translate for cost of groceries? I know that the DR grows the bulk of its own food so I am assuming that food is pretty cheap. I have another friend there that I am a bit worried about - who may be food insecure and may not ask.. How are things, generally?