Angels Help Furloughed Workers: 'There Are So Many Good People'

SHIRLEY, NY — Even in the midst of the most uncertain of times for furloughed government employees, there are acts of sheer kindness that fill hearts with gratitude.

Theresa Giordani-Buckley and her fiance Chris Belfiore, of Shirley, were touched recently when someone reached out to help during the long days of the partial government shutdown.

"Just when you start to lose faith . . .Both myself and my fiancee are federal workers," she said. "He is working without pay and I am furloughed," Giordani-Buckley wrote on Facebook. "Today, when we picked up our mail, there were three gift cards from our mail carrier Gladys. It is such a wonderful gesture that it made me want to cry. We don't know how to thank her enough."

Giordani-Buckley said both she and her fiance work for the IRS, she as an Officer in Compromise lead and he, in customer service.

The shutdown, she said, has been difficult. "Besides getting very depressed by not being able to go to work and do my job, we are starting to wonder how some of our bills will be paid," she said. "I have enough saved for February but after that — I just don't know. I also am trying to help my daughter, who is also a furloughed employee, and who makes a lot less in wages than I do." Her daughter, Giordani-Buckley said, is trying to raise a family of five.

But despite feeling overwhelmed, the open-hearted community lifts spirits. "Another act of kindness that we just received yesterday was shown by my neighbor," she said. " She did not know we worked for the government but didn't see us leaving for work every morning so she just deduced that we worked for the government and came over with five bags of groceries last night. There are so many amazing people out there. You usually only hear about the bad in the tri-hamlet area. Well, people need to know there is a lot of good, also."

Patch photo courtesy Theresa Giordani-Buckley.