Stamp out disappointment

 And now, the follow-up to yesterday’s Stamp Out Hunger charity food collection by the USPS. Our donation was ignored; not picked up, but was just left at our mailbox. The carrier even had to stop at our address and deliver a parcel to the front door which would not fit in the mailbox. There’s no way he missed seeing our donation.  Despite participating in this commendable effort for the last several years, our letter carrier simply did not collect our package of food. Was this his own personal decision? Or a choice by the local Helena Alabama post office?  I don’t know the answer to that. As I say, food has been collected in past years, and local media has mentioned the United Way in this area is participating in the food drive. I can say that on weekends, we have a different carrier than Shannon, our excellent usual weekday carrier. But on weekends, there is a substitute guy. And yesterday was not even our usual sub, but some guy I didn’t recognize. Did he not know about the drive? Did he make a personal decision not to participate? I realize being a mail carrier is hard work, and this food drive adds to the burden. But this represents personal laziness, or poor training and communication at the Helena post office.  It’s sad to see so many people’s good intentions can be stymied by one individual. On the other hand, the package of food that my wife carefully curated and specifically purchased for this food drive now stands ready for some other one in the near future, whether at a church, or some similar community organization.  It will make its way to those in need, and soon.