Personal Stories

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day the Department of Transportation held a concert featuring local jazz artist Marcus Johnson.

Michael Hager the Acting Director of OPM recently released a memo to all department and agency heads encouraging each of them to fully support the CFC and the soliciation of their employees to benefit the many worthy charitable organizations participating in the 2008 Combined Federal Campaign.

CATALOG OF LIFE
While serving as the 2006 Campaign Manager for the United States Postal Service’s Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) Sheila Cash-Carter dubbed the annual "Catalog of Caring" the "Catalog of Life," and passionately encouraged others to use the catalog as a year-round daily resource.  She proclaimed "it is like the yellow pages and could save a life."  Sheila states that being involved with the CFC has brought new enrichment to her life, and tells others of the joy and satisfaction of helping others. 

By Paul Lagasse

Michelle Payton-Kenner has always been an independent person – strong, self-reliant, and confident. Those traits suited her well as the wife of a Navy yeoman. “Being a Navy wife, you become accustomed to long deployments,” Michelle says. “When my husband wasn’t there, I ran the show. I come from a family of very strong and spiritually inclined people, so that’s part of who I am.”

By Paul Lagasse

It seemed like any other morning for Dennis McCallum, an Army officer stationed at Fort Lee in Virginia. On his way out the door, he looked in on his 3-½-year-old son, Callos. But instead of sleeping peacefully, Callos’ eyes were rolled back into his head. Dennis tried unsuccessfully to wake the boy and, with his wife Cynthia, rushed him to the base hospital. In the emergency room, Callos had his first epileptic seizure. He spent the next two days in intensive care.

By Janet Cave

“When I first came to America, I didn’t have a home. I think I was the only Secretary of Housing who had once been homeless,” recalls Senator Mel Martinez, the former Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, who now represents the State of Florida in the U.S. Senate.

By Patricia Daniels

Robin Lancaster-Campbell knows all about adversity—and about the ways friends and strangers help you through it. In February 1999, the Library of Congress administrative coordinator, now 43, realized that something was amiss with her four-month-old daughter, Nicole.

“She kept reaching out, like she wanted to hug me, and crying,” says Lancaster-Campbell. “My gut told me something was wrong. After a few days of it, I took her to the doctor, and Nicole had a seizure right there in his office.”

By Jennifer Silber

Antoinette (“Toni”) Soto could not learn to walk. She had been born premature with cerebral palsy (CP), a condition caused by an abnormality in a child’s developing brain. Cerebral palsy is characterized by an inability to fully control muscles, movement, and posture. It is not known what causes CP, and there is no cure. Children with CP often are treated by a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals that may include an orthopedist, a physical therapist, a speech and language pathologist, and other specialists.

By Jennifer Silber

Tracie Walker, a Department of Transportation (DOT) employee, was asked last year to write and sing a song for the Combined Federal Campaign. Her powerful poetry and inspiring performance combined to create an electrifying theme song for the CFC.

At the DOT's CFC kickoff on October 6, 2005, Tracie sang her song before an audience that included CFCNCA Honorary Chairman and Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, Chairperson of the Local Federal Coordinating Committee Vince Micone, and WJLA-TV's Kathleen Matthews.

Tracie knows the difference that a charity can make in a person's life. She was turned out of her house as a teenager and did not know how to go about asking for help, so she slept on beaches and survived with a little wit and determination. Now she works with a program that gives guidance to teenagers and parents of teenagers. Tracie tells them her story in the hopes of preventing young people from giving in to negative influences. "I’ve seen ups and I’ve seen downs. The downs are so much worse if you can’t see a way up and don’t know that there is help. You’re not alone."

By Jennifer Silber

Ferdinand Branch has been a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for 22 years. He used to work at the Carrollton Station in New Orleans, but Hurricane Katrina changed that.

Unwilling to leave his dogs behind when the evacuation order was issued, Ferdinand and his brother tried to outsmart the storm by staying put in his brother’s New Orleans home. Despite being on high ground, the house was soon flooded by water that rose above the kitchen countertops. Ferdinand and his brother built a raft and tried to get supplies at a grocery store. Unfortunately, he says, “We were told we might get shot.”

So when a flat-bottomed boat with two life jackets floated into the living room of the house, “We took it as a sign we should leave,” says Ferdinand, and they did. It was later that day that a Coast Guard boat took Ferdinand, his brother, and the dogs to be evacuated — although they could not say exactly where they would land.