Speak up
Mr. XXXX,
Greetings. I am the wife of a federal employee. Most specifically, I am the wife of the supervisor for the Oklahoma office of the Department of Homeland Security. I am the wife of a 20 year Customs employee, we started out as Border Patrol on the Texas border and have moved on and up through several states to his current position. I say “we” because we are in this journey together. This is not our first shut down but it is by far the most intense.
We do not live pay check to pay check but we are not by any stretch of the means “wealthy”. We carry debt. We budget and manage to have a small savings. Right now that savings will carry us through a couple months while our government officials decide what to do. We are better off than some, worse than others. We can still help someone who is in worse shape than we are, and we will and do.
We decided 10 years ago to survive solely on one income so we could raise a family. We have a 9 year old, in the 3rd grade in Cashion OK. He has ADHD and takes medication. His medication is expensive. We have recently been told if we miss 2 pay periods our insurance will be direct billed to us. In order to continue being insured, we will need to pay it. And we sit here and wonder just how we are going to manage that. Because we also have a mortgage, truck payment, bills to just keep our house running, food for our family and there is NO INCOME. Yet it is not an option to discontinue his medication. Without it, our son can not function at school. With holding his medication is tantamount to cruel. So we have to find a way. We will miss the first pay period on Monday. It is more stress than you can imagine.
The hardest part perhaps to imagine is that there are thousands of people sitting in their homes just like us. Quietly. Most will not ask for help because as a lot they are private people. Then there are the vast majorities that are complacent about the whole mess. It is mostly white noise in the background because it does not directly impact them. I spend a great deal of my time educating people about how this impacts my family.
This shut down impacts my family. It impacts our quality of life. It impacts our trust in our government officials. My husband is eager to retire from his role in the government because he no longer wants to be part of a government organization that will use employees as bargaining chips. His employees are not exactly eager to get in and do the job. They are stressed out and frankly mad.
And even still, having lived on the border, my husband actually is in support of a wall (or some border defense). Having been in his role for 20 years, he has seen many sides of what happens when people, drugs and illegal materials come into our country. Please find a way to re-open the government. Find a way to stop using employees as pawns. Find a way to get in and get the job done. Our entire lively hood rests in your hands at this moment and we are terrified.
Warm Regards, Shelly Goodmanson
Greetings. I am the wife of a federal employee. Most specifically, I am the wife of the supervisor for the Oklahoma office of the Department of Homeland Security. I am the wife of a 20 year Customs employee, we started out as Border Patrol on the Texas border and have moved on and up through several states to his current position. I say “we” because we are in this journey together. This is not our first shut down but it is by far the most intense.
We do not live pay check to pay check but we are not by any stretch of the means “wealthy”. We carry debt. We budget and manage to have a small savings. Right now that savings will carry us through a couple months while our government officials decide what to do. We are better off than some, worse than others. We can still help someone who is in worse shape than we are, and we will and do.
We decided 10 years ago to survive solely on one income so we could raise a family. We have a 9 year old, in the 3rd grade in Cashion OK. He has ADHD and takes medication. His medication is expensive. We have recently been told if we miss 2 pay periods our insurance will be direct billed to us. In order to continue being insured, we will need to pay it. And we sit here and wonder just how we are going to manage that. Because we also have a mortgage, truck payment, bills to just keep our house running, food for our family and there is NO INCOME. Yet it is not an option to discontinue his medication. Without it, our son can not function at school. With holding his medication is tantamount to cruel. So we have to find a way. We will miss the first pay period on Monday. It is more stress than you can imagine.
The hardest part perhaps to imagine is that there are thousands of people sitting in their homes just like us. Quietly. Most will not ask for help because as a lot they are private people. Then there are the vast majorities that are complacent about the whole mess. It is mostly white noise in the background because it does not directly impact them. I spend a great deal of my time educating people about how this impacts my family.
This shut down impacts my family. It impacts our quality of life. It impacts our trust in our government officials. My husband is eager to retire from his role in the government because he no longer wants to be part of a government organization that will use employees as bargaining chips. His employees are not exactly eager to get in and do the job. They are stressed out and frankly mad.
And even still, having lived on the border, my husband actually is in support of a wall (or some border defense). Having been in his role for 20 years, he has seen many sides of what happens when people, drugs and illegal materials come into our country. Please find a way to re-open the government. Find a way to stop using employees as pawns. Find a way to get in and get the job done. Our entire lively hood rests in your hands at this moment and we are terrified.
Warm Regards, Shelly Goodmanson
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