Postal Service employees fought fires, protected customers and gave the gift of life this year — while completing their daily rounds and serving their communities.
Nathan Slentz was delivering mail to a variety store in Lincolnton, NC, when a robber entered, pointed a rifle at the store clerk and demanded money from the cash registers.
While the robbery was taking place, Slentz moved terrified customers to safety, where they remained until the robber left. The store clerk called 911, and Slentz stayed with the customers until help arrived.
The store employee told police that if Slentz had not been there, she was certain the outcome would have been different.
“Without hesitation, the mail carrier made his way to the back aisle of the store where he then directed two women and two small children to hide in the corner until the coast was clear and it was safe for them to exit,” she said.
James Gray, a highway contract route driver, was arriving at work in Hollister, MO, when he saw a departing colleague’s truck coasting into the intersection.
Gray safely parked his vehicle and ran to catch up to the runaway truck. He jumped into the cab, placed the truck in park and pulled out the co-worker, who was in the throes of a heart attack.
As a passerby called 911, Gray administered CPR until paramedics arrived.
Meanwhile, a letter carrier, Ryan Dillon, was delivering mail in Bristol, NH, when he saw a truck crash into a church.
Dillon, a volunteer firefighter with emergency medical training, treated the badly injured driver until paramedics arrived.
Benjamin LaRoche, the local fire chief, applauded Dillon’s actions.
“Ryan is consistently one of the most active responders to emergencies and attendees at training events. He has a great service-first mindset — ready to respond day or night — and, apparently, even while he is delivering mail,” said LaRoche.
In Chicago, another letter carrier, Doriel Carson, noticed a customer’s mail piling up after a holiday weekend.
After Carson called for help, paramedics entered the home and discovered the customer — a woman in her 80s — had been on the floor for three days after falling while changing a light bulb.
In Eaton, OH, a rural carrier, Annette Smith, backed up her delivery truck so a customer could jump onto its roof to escape a house fire. In Arlington Heights, IL, a letter carrier, Rafael Pozo, kept customers away from a burning trash truck before it exploded. And in Glendale, CA, Letter Carrier Victor Castaneda used water from a nearby garden hose to respond to a duplex fire. Castaneda was later honored at a Glendale City Hall ceremony, where he was praised for taking action while others stood by and recorded the event on their cellphones.
Other Postal Service employees assisted their communities in other ways.
Rural Carrier Connie Durbin helped a customer trapped under a lawn mower in Stanford, KY; Plainfield, WI, Postmaster KaSondra Hams asked social services to check on a customer in need; and Tara Marsh, a letter carrier in Imlay City, MI, provided one of her kidneys to someone who needed a donor.
“Tara is an exceptional employee and has a heart of gold,” said Postmaster Jay Sucaet. “She is always going above and beyond for all of her customers and neighbors.”
Check out the “Heroes” archive for more stories about Postal Service employees who perform heroic acts.
