Postal Service employees serve as the eyes and ears of their communities — as Link’s “Heroes” column demonstrated throughout 2024.
Among them: Danny Lara Jr., a Waterford, CA, rural carrier who noticed a 91-year-old customer’s mail piling up and asked the local sheriff’s department to check on her. The woman’s nephew later wrote a letter to the local Post Office thanking Lara for his time and attention.
“Danny is much more than a mail carrier to my aunt and family,” he wrote. “Danny has served his community beyond just delivering the mail.”
Another letter carrier, Keith Minchillo, came to the aid of an infant who had fallen 10 feet from an open window in Woonsocket, RI.
Other employees helped reunite customers with lost money, or prevented them from losing it in the first place.
Carolyn Norton, a McKinney, TX, rural carrier, was driving to work when she saw $20 bills flying around. She pulled over and safely collected as much of the money as possible, then called 911.
Police later determined the money — totaling $10,000 — belonged to a homeless veteran and returned it to him.
Subrena Simpson, a Gardner, MA, retail associate, saved a customer from losing $29,500 in a fake sweepstakes, while Benton, MS, Postmaster Chris Broyles helped save a customer from losing $32,000 in a bitcoin scam.
Other employees provided roadside assistance — sometimes in dramatic situations.
Tesfaye Deyasso, a St. Louis Park, MN, letter carrier, took part in a group effort to free a driver from a car fire, while Capitol Heights, MD, Postal Inspector David Starks Sr. got students to safety after he witnessed a fiery crash involving a school bus and another vehicle.
When Skyler Wilburg, an Albertson, NY, city carrier assistant, saw an SUV begin rolling away because the driver had failed to properly put it in park, Wilburg jumped into the moving vehicle and stopped it.
Meanwhile, Ian McMartin, a Ware, MA, letter carrier, was kayaking on a lake when he saw a skydiver becoming entangled in his parachute and struggling in the water.
McMartin and a colleague, Glen Goodwin, paddled to the parachuter and got him to safety.
“Luckily, the skydiver didn’t sustain any injuries and recovered from the incident,” Goodwin said.
Check out the “Heroes” archive for more stories about Postal Service employees who perform heroic acts.
