Stories of Public Service

I am a proud, passionate federal civil servant. It is part of my identity. My great-grandfather served in the Italian military for four years in the late 1890s. He waited seven years and went through the paperwork process to become a U.S. citizen. His son, my grandfather, joined the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s to assist his family during the Great Depression. After a few years in the CCC, when WWII broke out, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served three years in combat in Europe fighting the Nazis. When public service called, the men in my family, including myself, never hesitated to serve. I am very proud to continue that tradition of public service. My federal colleagues are the most dedicated hardworking employees I know. They are duty-bound and make untold sacrifices to keep the country safe. I consider it a honor to serve alongside them. I believe I am making both my great-grandfather and grandfather very proud. God bless the United States of America!

I am a state of Texas worker, so I don't have a story. I just wanted to offer some words of encouragement to the federal workers and let you all know that you matter. I hope you are proud of the work you have done thus far and continue to make a difference. Thank you so much for your service.

Thanks for the opportunity to learn from you all during my more than 10 years in public service. Without your open doors I would not be the expert you have taught me to be. Thank you, Partnership.

Thank you to all of my peers—past, present, and future—who contribute to the sustainability of our natural resources and support conservation and ecological efforts. It’s a privilege to enjoy the beauty of these resources and to play even a small role in protecting them. I also want to extend deep gratitude to the members of our armed forces. Your commitment, bravery, resilience and skill allow us to feel safe and secure in this nation. May we take this week and beyond to celebrate one another. Your work is meaningful, and the recognition is well deserved. Enjoy, HOOAH!!!!

When I first saw Paul de Falco, I was a Boy Scout and he was administrator of the Clean Water Act in the San Francisco region. He had convened a conference on the new law at the Oakland civic auditorium. All the stakeholders and players were there, from ecology action hippies (and hands-on activists running a recycling project) from Berkeley to a junketing assistant secretary of the interior from Washington D.C. The next time I saw him I was the file boy (“clerk typist GS2”) for the grants administration branch of the water division of the Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco (100 California Street). He was the administrator. The only times I saw him were on the elevator or when all the copy machines broke down in our division from overwork sending out grants on the last day of the fiscal year (He ended up running the big copy machine in the room next to his office--I wonder what he said about the delay of grants to the last minute.). At last, I met him when I was a seminarian doing fieldwork in the church he attended. He scoffed my expression of admiration for his getting his hands dirty running the copier (so grants got out), but he was glad to tell me how he had just wanted to get all the stakeholders together for a conversation on clean water. 💧

It was never my intention to stay in the federal government for almost 15 years, but the people of the National Park Service kept me inspired to stay and fight with and for them. The incredible staff members of the NPS move mountains to ensure that visitors can enjoy their parks safely and with good information shared by both park rangers and on our digital platforms. These folks have endured a lot, but what's happening now to our country and our government is an absolute tragedy. In particular: As a gay woman and someone deeply connected to the LGBTQ+ community, I am terrified for my community and for my right to stay married to my wife--and for others to have that same right. I can only hope that the progress we had been fighting for will continue after this administration finally goes away. I thank the public servants who are choosing to stay and fight from within, and I am leaving federal service with my dignity still mostly intact to fight from outside.

My husband was a national park ranger, a seasonal when I met him, and I helped him write his SF171 to apply for a permanent position at Cabrillo National Monument. By the time we finished his application, I was astounded by his qualifications and thought, "You are over-qualified for this position." I was so impressed that I married him. While he was attending college, he had trouble deciding on a major because he was interested and fascinated by everything! He took every science class, every sociology class, and every parks and recreation class. Finally, he was counseled to stop taking classes and graduate. He volunteered to write the history of Cabrillo for Dr. Moriarty at San Diego State, and he spent thousands of volunteer hours at the park, where he fell in love with the National Park Service.

My mother was a postal worker until she retired. Many people don’t realize that the Postal Service delivers “the last mile” for other delivery services. In many rural areas, the USPS is the entity that delivers your packages, regardless of what carrier gets your shipping fees. The Post Office delivers medications to elderly people; it delivers ballots, passports and other critical documents; and it does all of this as a service to the American public. It is NOT a business trying to turn a profit, and it should not be run like one. As a veterinary technician, I learned a lot about how the Department of Agriculture and other federal departments work to keep our food safe and to prevent and contain potential outbreaks. These agencies' workforces have been reduced over the years, making it incumbent upon businesses to self-regulate. With many businesses, that is letting the fox guard the hen house. Federal workers drive our economy, protect our lives, and are our neighbors and friends.

I respect our federal employees. Almost every person in our country has contact with a federal employee on an almost daily basis. I am speaking of the Postal Service workers who deliver and forward our daily mail. An attack on those individuals is an attack on every person who depends on this service. I stand with every federal employee who serves the public. I do NOT stand with the current administration, which is trying to turn the public against those in federal service. The Department of Veterans Affairs is another example that serves the men and women who have served the U.S. A disruption of services will certainly cause harm, and even death, as former service members have to wait longer than necessary for critical medical appointments or medicine. I am deeply upset that the country claiming to be the ""Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave"" seeks to destroy these services.

My father was killed when I was 17, a junior in high school. Money was very tight. My mother worked with the brother of the postmaster of our small town in northern Illinois and mentioned to him that I needed a part-time job after school and on Saturdays. One evening, I received a call from Roy Thomas, our postmaster, asking if I wanted to work at the Post Office. I did! My job during the week for three hours each day was to receive the incoming mail and prepare the outgoing mail. I carried a route on Saturdays, every day for two weeks during the holidays, and for 10 weeks during the summer when I kept the same route as the other carriers went on vacation. When I went off to college, I returned home for the summer and worked for the Post Office. After my sophomore year, I stayed out of college, and Mr. Thomas hired me full time for a year and a half, after which I returned to school. I think of him with gratitude for starting me on a federal career of service.

I am grateful to the law enforcement officers who worked at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and to those at the FBI and Justice Department who investigated and prosecuted criminals afterwards. I live in Washington, D.C., and some of the people who participated stayed at Airbnbs in my neighborhood. I am heartbroken that President Trump gave a blanket pardon to those who participated--and that those who worked to bring them to justice are now particularly in jeopardy.

I have no specific story, but I am heartbroken about the way federal workers are being disparaged and treated. I am so sorry! Prayers for you all!

"My family and I travel by plane a lot, and I thank God for the federal workers who perform one of the most stressful jobs there is: ensuring every safe takeoff and landing. I am grateful to the federal workers who safely guided planes to the ground on 9/11 and to those in every airport who help us reach our work, our homes and our families safely. I appreciate the federal workers in airport control towers nationwide who operate around the clock, in all weather conditions, within a highly challenged infrastructure. Everyone and everything that flies—commercial planes, private aircraft, as well as presidential and military flights—depends on them. Thank you! And an enormous THANK YOU to all our federal workers! "

I've worked most of my career in nonprofit organizations. For 14 years I worked for the American Library Association. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is a great resource for libraries and museums. My organization's board at the Young Adult Services Association, a division of ALA, had an ambitious agenda and wanted to expand its impact. The board encouraged me to apply for federal grants from IMLS. I had never written a federal grant proposal before, and I found the staff at IMLS to be incredibly supportive, especially Tim Carrigan (who has since moved on to a different federal agency). IMLS staff were invested in my organization's success and took the time to teach me the process for submitting a grant proposal. After two failed attempts, my third try was successful. Throughout the implementation process for the grant-funded project, IMLS staff were very helpful, and you knew they were rooting for your project to be successful.

I know several people who are worrying about their jobs. Each person serves a purpose in the federal government and isn't ""just a body"" at a desk or doing ""useless"" or ""wasteful"" work. These people are not rich. They are middle-class people who have love their jobs and NEED their jobs. They have families to support. I am an educator who is worried about my job and the future of public education for myself, my colleagues and, of course, for the students we serve. Dismantling or defunding education HURTS ALL our children. I worry about my own children's education and what their higher education is going to be like in the future."

The best memories I have with my family are our trips to National Parks. From San Juan to Yosemite to Glacier and Yellowstone, we have had to many laughs, smiles, and stories ushered in by park rangers. My two sons, Oliver (5) and Elliot (3) love earning junior ranger badges more than anything- they love having a mission to accomplish and learning, and they love interacting with the real rangers. Our family is heartbroken that the park rangers are losing their jobs because of greedy billionaires!

Very simply a person who I may see everyday, my mail carrier. Because I travel between several locations, he makes sure that we talk and he knows where I am and whether I have asked for mail to be forwarded or held. I wait for him to let him know before I leave or leave him a note in the mailbox. When things don’t go right regardless of pre-planning, his supervisors at the Post Office, take my calls, work out the issues and make sure that he or sometimes a mail carrier who is filling for him on his route, know what to do with my mail… and they follow-up with calls to make sure things work. This service level may not be everywhere, but I can say that at my Post Office, they go the extra mile for me. I also have had great service calling the 800 number and working with a call taker when I away and can’t get in touch with my own Post Office, they make contact for me.

I have no story but I just want to wish all the federal workers much luck with their jobs