Going Beyond the Call of Duty
How Citiparks Facebook is supporting our troops abroad
Since November 2018, Citiparks — City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Parks and Recreation — has grown its Facebook followers by almost 300%. Susan Lucas joined the City of Pittsburgh in February the same year. As the department’s Administrative Aide, Susan manages all communication across its recreational and senior centers, including social media.
Susan is a Facebook savant. Her secret sauce? Consistency. She responds immediately to user comments; maintains a constant publishing schedule, disseminating content such as photos, videos, and program schedules, and employs Facebook tools such as notes, events, and albums.
So, when Susan sent me the following email about how a Facebook comment triggered a community effort to make cards for our troops abroad, we wanted to share her story on Medium.
Email from Susan Lucas
Sent to me on December, 9th, 2019
On November 20, 2019, members at the Citiparks Beechview Healthy Active Living Center made Thanksgiving Note Cards for their friends and family members. The staff took pictures of these folks hard at work, and Citiparks was pleased to share this on Facebook for all of our great City to see.
From that Facebook post, we received the following comment:
We were able send a private message to the citizen, letting her know that this would truly be something we would like to be a part of, and let her know that we would ask our centers if they would be able to be a part of this. She was so very thankful, and through subsequent messages that evening, we learned that her son is currently deployed overseas and that this is his 5th deployment.
That brings us to December 5, 2019 — Troop Cards Pick-up Day! I had the good fortune of traveling to the 4 participating centers to pick up their cards and thank the staff and members for being a part of this project. All of us at Citiparks are extremely grateful to have been asked and to be able to provide these Holiday Greetings for our troops overseas.
Tonight I will get to meet the Brookline mom who reached out to us when I deliver these cards to her to include in her Holiday package she will be sending. Thank you, Mrs. Hamilton, for letting us be a small part of bringing joy to those who protect our freedoms every day. We are truly grateful to your son, his military brothers, and sisters, and for you to bring this joy to folks who are not able to be with their families this Holiday Season!
Susan’s work serves as a example of the everyday engagement Citiparks provides residents as they promote wellness throughout the City of Pittsburgh. It’s also a reminder of how city employees go beyond the call of duty to serve residents.
Citiparks mission is to enrich the lives of all city residents and visitors through our wide array of programming. Follow the Citiparks Facebook Fan Page for updates on programs and events happening in your community.
The Department of Innovation & Performance is a shared resource across the City of Pittsburgh government. We support city employees in serving residents through process-improvement training, data analytics, service-delivery best practices, and technology management.
