furloughed workers pinching pennies, volunteering

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SHUTDOWN_SPARE_TIME?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-13-09-31-15


FILE Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Catherine Threat watches students as they arrive at Courtenay Elementary Language Arts Center in Chicago in this Oct. 7, 2013 file photo taken in Chicago. The Wisconsin veteran hasn’t let the federal shutdown shut Her down. Threat returned from active duty in Afghanistan in July. Since then, she’s been in the Army Reserve and working as a civilian at Fort McCoy in central Wisconsin _ until last week when she was furloughed. Rather than sitting around, Threat decided to volunteer for a veteran patrol for the Chicago Public Schools “safe passage” program. As part of the effort to keep students safe while traveling to school, the veteran branch of the program is coordinated by the group No Veteran Left Behind. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

***SNIP

Here are the stories of just a few of the government workers directly affected by the shutdown.

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As the government shutdown began its second week, Donna Cebrat was focused on stretching each dollar of her savings under the assumption she might not be able to return to work for a month or longer.

***SNIP

Catherine Threat sat at the bar, typing a note to her friends on Facebook.

"How do I serve my country from this barstool in the only restaurant in this tiny town outside a training base that is mostly shut down?" she wrote.