Thanksgiving

Duty doesn’t pause for holidays; Project 2nd Shift honors your service and sacrifice.

When most families are gathering together for Thanksgiving, Correctional Officers are often walking tiers, monitoring units, and ensuring safety. It’s a sacrifice that often goes unseen, but it deserves recognition.

---

Officer’s Perspective

Officers entering the field often struggle with the reality of missing family traditions. Mom, Dad, uncles, brothers, and kids all together, but you’re absent, and that can wear on you.

Over time, it becomes the norm. You learn to “suck it up,” but you also learn to adapt. Thanksgiving might not happen on Thursday for you, perhaps you might celebrate on the following Sunday when you’re off shift. Adjusting the schedule to honor the holiday on your next day off can help fill the gaps and for some becomes a new tradition. That’s when you realize: it’s not the date that matters, its connection that keeps the family strong.

A few options to consider, plan a potluck or bring in a dish if you can, share a meal with your brothers and sisters also on the clock.

---

Gratitude: Officers and families should remind themselves that service is honorable, you are making a difference.

A Message of Recognition

This Thanksgiving let’s honor the unseen sacrifices of all the first responders and public servants and their families. Behind every shift is a family adjusting, supporting in ways that often go unnoticed. Their resilience reminds us that Thanksgiving is not just about food and tradition, it’s about gratitude, service, and the bonds that hold us together.