TSA ID checkpoint

Little Acts of Kindness

TSA officer spent her stimulus check to support and thank front-line workers.

TSA Supervisor Samantha Mudge has been making masks to hand out to law enforcement, healthcare workers, pharmacy workers and others in her community.

Mudge remembers what it was like last year, working during the federal government shutdown for several weeks without a paycheck.

“So many people helped us during the government furlough,” Mudge said. “So I felt that I needed to do something to support others” during the pandemic.

A 13-year veteran of the TSA, Mudge works the early 3:15 a.m. shift at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Mudge decided to crochet masks for the Calvert County Sheriff’s Department. She crocheted 25 masks in black with a blue line across them—symbolic of the phrase “thin blue line,” which is emblematic of law enforcement—and dropped them off at the Sheriff’s office along with a box of submarine sandwiches from a local shop and a couple pounds of shrimp from a local grocery store.

Still, Mudge felt an internal desire to do more. When her stimulus check arrived in the mail, she made a conscious decision to use that money in ways to back people who have to work during the pandemic. “When I received my check, I looked at it and knew I could do more” to support others during the pandemic, she said. She bought fabric to sew masks, yarn to crochet masks and food to donate.

She sewed 50 masks and donated them to the CalvertHealth Medical Center in Calvert County, Maryland; delivered 30 masks to her local Walmart pharmacy because her pharmacist and pharmacy workers had no masks; and she handed a bag of her masks to healthcare workers who were standing outside waiting for food at a BBQ restaurant.

“I guess you could say they were all random acts of kindness,” Mudge said. She knows that during the pandemic, that her unexpected generosity is appreciated, much like she and her TSA colleagues were grateful for the support of the public during the government shutdown. “It’s just spreading some kindness” during these unusual times, she said.

About the Author

Ralph C. Jensen is the Publisher/Editor in chief of Security Today magazine.

Featured

  • AI Is Now the Leading Cybersecurity Concern for Security, IT Leaders

    Arctic Wolf recently published findings from its State of Cybersecurity: 2025 Trends Report, offering insights from a global survey of more than 1,200 senior IT and cybersecurity decision-makers across 15 countries. Conducted by Sapio Research, the report captures the realities, risks, and readiness strategies shaping the modern security landscape. Read Now

  • Analysis of AI Tools Shows 85 Percent Have Been Breached

    AI tools are becoming essential to modern work, but their fast, unmonitored adoption is creating a new kind of security risk. Recent surveys reveal a clear trend – employees are rapidly adopting consumer-facing AI tools without employer approval, IT oversight, or any clear security policies. According to Cybernews Business Digital Index, nearly 90% of analyzed AI tools have been exposed to data breaches, putting businesses at severe risk. Read Now

  • Software Vulnerabilities Surged 61 Percent in 2024, According to New Report

    Action1, a provider of autonomous endpoint management (AEM) solutions, today released its 2025 Software Vulnerability Ratings Report, revealing a 61% year-over-year surge in discovered software vulnerabilities and a 96% spike in exploited vulnerabilities throughout 2024, amid an increasingly aggressive threat landscape. Read Now

  • Motorola Solutions Named Official Safety Technology Supplier of the Ryder Cup through 2027

    Motorola Solutions has today been named the Official Safety Technology Supplier of the 2025 and 2027 Ryder Cup, professional golf’s renowned biennial team competition between the United States and Europe. Read Now

  • Evolving Cybersecurity Strategies

    Organizations are increasingly turning their attention to human-focused security approaches, as two out of three (68%) cybersecurity incidents involve people. Threat actors are shifting from targeting networks and systems to hacking humans via social engineering methods, living off human errors as their most prevalent attack vector. Whether manipulated or not, human cyber behavior is leveraged to gain backdoor access into systems. This mainly results from a lack of employee training and awareness about evolving attack techniques employed by malign actors. Read Now

New Products

  • Unified VMS

    AxxonSoft introduces version 2.0 of the Axxon One VMS. The new release features integrations with various physical security systems, making Axxon One a unified VMS. Other enhancements include new AI video analytics and intelligent search functions, hardened cybersecurity, usability and performance improvements, and expanded cloud capabilities

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.