COURIER L DT IFE, FEB. 8–14, 2019 17
FEDS HELPING FEDS: Park Slope resident and furloughed federal worker Melissa Dimas,
left, joined colleagues Jennifer May-Reddy and Sabina Byck to collect money and goods
for hundreds of Transportation Security Administration employees, including the agent at
right, who worked without pay during the recent government shutdown. Melissa Dimas
Time off is money!
Furloughed EPA workers from Slope raise thousands
for other Feds who worked without pay amid shutdown
BY COLIN MIXSON
Talk about federal aid!
Three Park Slopers recently furloughed
from their jobs at the Environmental
Protection Agency during
the federal shutdown spent some of
their time off the job raising money for
other Feds forced to work without pay
before the government reopened.
The trio of environmental workers
worked with staff at the neighborhood’s
Old Stone House museum to
collect cash and supplies for employees
of the Transportation Security Administration,
and on Jan. 27 delivered
the haul to John F. Kennedy airport
in Queens, where it was distributed to
more than 500 agency workers, according
to one of the do-gooders.
And although the women delivered
the green and goods three days after
the record 35-day shutdown ended on
Jan. 25, the donations still came as a
relief to those Feds who received them,
because many are still waiting for the
two long-overdue paychecks they did
not receive during the government closure.
“Just because the shutdown ended,
doesn’t mean the need went away,”
said Melissa Dimas, who organized
the collection with her Environmental
Protection Agency colleagues Jennifer
May-Reddy and Sabina Byck.
The Slopers praised the generosity
of their neighbors, who donated
roughly $5,000 and a trove of household
items to the drive the trio kicked
off on Jan. 24, when they had no idea
President Trump would sign a deal to
reopen the government the next day.
“All I can tell you is there are really
good people in the neighborhood, and
in Brooklyn, and around the country,”
Dimas said.
And despite their own diffi culties
living without pay for more than a
month, the women chose to dedicate
the drive to Transportation Security
Administration employees, because
they still had to show up to work even
though the government stopped cutting
them checks, according to Dimas.
“We wanted to do something that
would directly impact people who still
had to go to work,” she said. “When
you have to go to work, you have to pay
for food, you have to pay for transit.
You’re not able to go out, get the supplies
you need, and take care of your
kids.”
The trio teamed up with Old Stone
House Executive Director Kim Maier,
who used the historic abode as a dropoff
site during the collection, and
helped spread the word by distributing
fl iers in the neighborhood and via
social media, the organizers said.