You Can Adopt A National Park Ranger For The Holidays Since Thousands Are Still Without Jobs
This holiday season can be even more meaningful by helping someone in need.
Joseph Sohm | Shutterstock Like most government employees, national park rangers are facing a lot of difficulty right now. According to a report from the Associated Press, roughly 1,000 new hires at the National Park Service were laid off as part of DOGE cuts in February. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the issue was compounded by the longest government shutdown in the country’s history, during which those who still had jobs did not receive pay.
Government employees are struggling right now across the board, but we seem to hear the most about the ones who affect us directly, which are typically TSA and air traffic controllers. The people who keep our national parks running have kind of become an afterthought. Thankfully, during this time when they’re in need, people are stepping up to help them.
Thanks to one woman’s creativity, you now have the option to adopt a national park ranger for the holidays.
Writing for Good Good Good, Kamrin Baker shared how anyone can get involved and help a national park ranger in need of support this holiday season. It’s all thanks to an Instagram account known as @nationalparkpatchlady. The account is run by Sandra Ramos, who is actually the National Parks Conservation Association Texas coastal program manager.
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Ramos created an initiative to ensure every national park ranger has the support they need during the holidays. Called “Adopt-A-Ranger,” the program allows people who want to help to fill out a form, signing themselves up to adopt a park ranger. There is also another form available for rangers who would like to be “adopted.” Ramos then does the hard work of matching volunteers with rangers in need.
Volunteers could sign up to provide a Thanksgiving package, a winter care kit, or both. On an episode of the Rangers of the Lost Park podcast, Ramos explained, “‘Adopt-A-Ranger’ is an idea of community and mutual aid. I don’t personally have the capacity to give back, so I’m like, ‘Maybe I can match folks up in the general public who want to help and support but may not know what to do.’”
The response to the ‘Adopt-A-Ranger’ program has been overwhelming.
Ramos’ goal was to have 50 people sign up as volunteers to adopt rangers, but over 500 did so within days. Every park ranger who signed up for help will receive support, and so many people offered to volunteer that it sounds like Ramos won’t even be able to match them all with rangers.
Based on a recent Instagram post, it sounds like it’s too late to sign up for the official “Adopt-A-Ranger” program now. However, if you were to reach out to Ramos, there is probably still something she could suggest you do to get involved. Ramos noted, “We had a spectacular turnout for folks wanting to adopt rangers … What we can assure you is every ranger or public lands person that raised their hand is being adopted.”
“Things are rough all around, but the generosity and abundance of spirit we are seeing on this project is so, so good,” she concluded.
National park rangers were never really thriving, but now they’re struggling more than ever.
According to Park Ranger Edu, the starting salary for a national park ranger is pretty low — around $30,113 to $39,149. That may not be a lot of money, but it’s certainly not something that a park ranger can easily lose, especially when it’s their sole source of income. With such low salaries, it’s likely that park rangers were already stretched pretty thin, and now they’re in a state of absolute turmoil.
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National park rangers, along with other government employees, are facing hard times like they’ve never seen before. It’s nice to know that there are still good people out there who are willing to help them make ends meet, like Ramos and the hundreds of volunteers she rallied.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
