2 former federal workers turned their firings into a movement to help others

Washington — One twelvemonth ago, Rebecca Ferguson-Ondrey and Drew Ruby-Howe were abruptly terminated from their jobs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

They are among much than 300,000 workers to permission the national government as portion of cuts by the 2nd Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, oregon DOGE.

Ferguson-Ondrey said she did not header good successful those archetypal days.

"There were a batch of tears, sitting my kids down and telling them that I had been fired from my job…That was truly hard to person those conversations," Ferguson-Ondrey told CBS News.

But it was a idiosyncratic speech betwixt Ferguson-Ondrey and Ruby-Howe that led to a breakthrough.

"We'd been done nonaccomplishment successful our lives: mislaid our fathers astatine young ages," Ruby-Howe said. "And so, we understood what grief looked like."

And they noted the nonaccomplishment of their jobs marked a antithetic benignant of grief.

"I would accidental there's thing chiseled astir the dedication of the nationalist service," Ruby-Howe said.

"It's career, and it's identity, and it's nonaccomplishment of mission," Ferguson-Ondre said. "To suffer each of that close successful 1 fell swoop is devastating for truthful galore folks."

Within days of their firings, they launched WellFed, a caller enactment radical for fired national workers.

"What started retired arsenic 20 erstwhile national workers and contractors successful a sponsored space, with pizza and a prayer, became present what is astir 5,000 members crossed the country," Ruby-Howe disclosed.

A mostly unpaid group, WellFed has advocated for national workers connected Capitol Hill and hosted much than 100 in-person and virtual workshops to assistance radical navigate their finances, physique their resumes, and nurture their intelligence health.

So far, astir 25% of their members person recovered caller jobs.

"There's been truthful overmuch healing, you know, and lifting different radical up, that has helped america heal," Ferguson-Ondrey said of the grief travel truthful far.

Added Ruby-Howe: "People request this enactment each day, due to the fact that each time is simply a large happening for radical who haven't rather recovered their mode yet. So we're here, and we're not going anywhere."

In:

• Department of Government Efficiency