For the last several months, visitors to the cafeterias of the Rayburn and Longworth House Office Buildings in Washington, D.C. have been greeted by an unusual sight. Every day, at least one table is draped with the white flag of USAID and crowded with young people—high school and college students, and other concerned citizens—working diligently.

These cafés aren’t the easiest places to work. They’re loud, they never have enough chairs, and, from time to time, staff ask patrons to move from one end to the other, setting off a frantic scramble for seats. Yet every day, the young organizers come back, make their presence known, and refuse to abandon ship.

I am one of those young people. I try to be there most days that I’m in Washington D.C., despite the hassle and the noise.

Let me tell you why.

I was raised to respect patriotism—real patriotism. As I grew older and learned my history, I came to understand what that truly meant. Not the cheap definition our modern politics has handed us, but the reality of the term: men and women who get up every day to serve their country with honor, competence, courage, and dignity.

The best-kept secret in Washington is that the vast majority of the people who work in our nation’s capital are honorable, quietly competent, and well-intentioned—individuals doing their best to serve their country. The people who worked for USAID before it was unceremoniously “fed to the woodchipper” are a prime example.

So why am I here? Because what was done to those workers was wrong. And for me, it is one outrage too many.

Thousands of patriotic public servants were fired on a whim, in a cloud of unsupported accusations. As a result of the dismantling of USAID, an estimated 700,000 lives have been lost, many of them children under five—with millions more at risk.

The world is upside down right now, and I cannot fix it all. But I can’t sit at home and do nothing, either. So given the chance, I plan to be here, in person, alongside other young people who think and feel as I do.

Keep Our Hill Workers Going

So if you can, help us out. Make a contribution to our little rebellion today. It will help us buy more flags, more notepads, more coffees to get us through the day in the crazy Hill cafeteria. We need everybody in this fight, and every little bit helps.

If you can’t donate, call your members of Congress at (202) 224-3121.

Or you can email them. Use this form to tell your members of Congress to invest in foreign aid programs that strengthen American leadership, uphold our values, and reflect true patriotism.

This is a fight we can win. Policymakers on both sides of the aisle recognize the value of foreign assistance, and most Americans support it when they know the facts. All we need now is to bring this coalition to critical mass, and your support is key to making that happen.

Give here.