Former CDC workers and their supporters at a rally near the entrance to the main CDC campus in Feb. 2026. They marked one year since the Trump administration's mass firings began over Valentine's Day weekend in 2025. (WABE/Jess Mador)
A group of current and former public health workers from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to gather in Decatur on Sunday for a volunteer event to help people experiencing food insecurity.
It’s part of a series of events called Compassion In Action: Saving The World One Sandwich At a Time that began last fall. Since then, volunteers have made and distributed hundreds of sandwiches and other care packages containing food, clothing and other items for distribution in metro Atlanta.
Volunteers make and distribute hundreds of sandwiches and care packages containing healthy snacks, clothing and other items in metro Atlanta. (Courtesy of Compassion In Action)
“Particularly in the context of rising unemployment rates and with housing instability on the rise, and earlier federal safety net programs like SNAP hanging in the balance, I think people really wanted to find a way to help and support each other, too,” says Coorganizer Sharoda Dasgupta, who helped launch the project in conjunction with the nonprofits Compassionate Atlanta and The Sandwich Project.
In 2025, the Trump administration eliminated nearly 3,000 CDC employees, according to KFF Health News data. The numbers include employees terminated by the administration and those who were forced to retire, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents the CDC.
Asked about the cuts, the administration cited efforts to “close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda,” Health and Human Services Andrew Nixon said in an email to WABE.
“During calendar year 2025, the CDC had just months and months of devastating programs and staff and funding cuts. There was a shooting at the agency in August,” Dasgupta says.
On Aug. 8, a 30-year-old man who’d expressed his ‘discontent’ with COVID-19 vaccines opened fire, shooting hundreds of rounds toward CDC buildings with a long gun. He killed DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose before killing himself.
“I think that there’s been a desire by folks who really want to find ways to support CDC, but don’t know how,” Dasgupta says. “And it’s just been a great way for all of us to stand shoulder to shoulder and support the public health community.”
She invites volunteers to help make sandwiches and assemble care packages, or to donate winter clothing and other items. The event is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 22, from 2 – 4 p.m. at Legacy Park, 500 S Columbia Dr, Decatur, GA 30030.
