Letter Carrier Dean Lardinois was delivering mail on a chilly spring day in Green Bay, WI, when he encountered an unsupervised toddler locked out of an apartment building near a busy intersection.
Lardinois opened the door for the 2-year-old boy — who was visibly cold in only a T-shirt and a diaper — and kept an eye on him while servicing the cluster box unit.
Afterward, the Postal Service employee attempted to locate a caregiver, and the boy led him to an open, dark apartment where no one appeared to be at home.
Lardinois flagged down a police officer driving by, who called for backup and soon determined that the boy’s mother was in a bedroom asleep — unaware that he’d wandered off.
The customer told the officers she was grateful for their help, to which one responded, “Don’t thank us, thank your mail carrier.”