A Caring Touch at a Difficult Time
"We believe that our task is to change the lives of Floridians for the better. We seek not to preserve the status quo but to challenge it. We will not rest until we have made a significant positive difference in the lives of those we serve."
Florida Department of Revenue Statement of Key Beliefs
While many Florida Department of Revenue employees share the commitment that echoes in these words, they may wonder how their particular everyday duties can possibly make a real difference in the lives of citizens.
Consider the choice that faced Revenue Records Center Manager Sharon McGill in 2004, soon after the state suffered the devastation of Hurricane Ivan.
Late one afternoon, McGill received a call from a Santa Rosa County business owner who was in obvious distress. The business owner had suffered very serious damage to both her home and business during Hurricane Ivan.
The business owner was desperately trying to get help in reconstructing certain tax-related records, fighting to meet a tight deadline in order to obtain important hurricane-related benefits. The business owner's problem was critical: Her own records had been severely damaged by the storm. She needed help. And she needed it fast.
Knowing that routine processing of the request might take a couple of weeks, McGill chose to handle the problem herself. "We all knew what was happening over there," she said later. "The way I looked at it, I could be in this situation. My heart went out to her." So McGill dropped what she was doing and made sure that the business owner got the records in a matter of hours.
Deeply moved, the business owner later called DOR's headquarters to say that McGill's helpful, caring attitude had had a big impact: "After all we've been through, I can't express to you what it meant to me. Now I feel like I can go on."
From McGill's point of view, thanks were unnecessary. "I wouldn't call what I did extraordinary. Really, that's my job." However, for a Floridian struggling to cope with a terrible personal disaster, McGill's caring touch made a real difference at a moment when she was almost out of hope.
For Sharon McGill and all other public servants whose compassion, commitment, and caring softened the harsh winds of 2004 . . . well done.