Young people highlighted the mail’s ability to build relationships, uplift spirits and even right wrongs this year.
Dallas third-graders formed special pen-pal relationships after turning to a local retirement community for help with cursive writing lessons.
Meanwhile, students at a Foxborough, MA, charter school continued their efforts to collect postage stamps to honor Holocaust victims.
After Coetta Ramsey, a second-grade teacher in St. Thomas, PA, died, her daughter continued her mother’s tradition of writing letters to former students when they graduated high school.
Other students were also moved by the past.
After hearing the story of an African-American newlywed couple who was turned away from a resort in 1957, a group of Titusville, NJ, fifth-graders wrote the resort to request a do-over.
Children also turned to the mail for encouragement during their illnesses, including Finn Blumenthal, a 3-year-old with congenital heart disease who enjoyed visiting the Post Office, and Aspen Kelly, a 13-year-old with leukemia who wanted postcards from around the world.
Other requests came from sick children who wanted help celebrating the holidays.
Maddox Hyde, a 14-year-old who has terminal cancer, requested holiday cards to help celebrate his final Christmas, and Drake Quibodeaux, an 8-year-old who also has terminal cancer, received thousands of greeting cards.
“This is the most mail I have ever delivered,” said Lisa Langley, Drake’s rural carrier.