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Community Thanks a Mail Carrier


Avalon, NJ Letter Carrier John Yoast ready to deliver his route.

Avalon Post Office™ Community Thanks One of Their Own

What better reason to “show some love” and to “thank your mail carrier” than to celebrate two special days that fall in the month of February: Thank a Mail Carrier Day on February 4 and Valentine’s Day on February 14.

Last month, the Avalon NJ Post Office and community recognized one of its special letter carriers. Just as all special celebrations take precise planning, scheduling and organizing, this celebration called for a couple of months of preplanning and creative brainstorming to make it a truly memorable surprise.

About a week before Christmas, a customer made it a point to express her sincere gratitude to Postmaster Melissa Lomax about her letter carrier, John Yoast. The customer commented on how Yoast made it easier for her to get her mail after an injury. “John made it a point to hand deliver my mail to me every day, while making sure I was on the mend,” she recollected with a smile. “I was unable to bear any weight on my broken leg, which made it difficult to get around to doing simple and every day activities, such as driving, walking, and retrieving my mail from my mailbox.”


Yoast’s proud family celebrated the recognition with him.

Yoast said he looks at this sort of personalized service and genuine care, as “all in a day’s work of a mail carrier.” John will be celebrating his 35th anniversary of being a Postal Service™ employee in August. John’s wife of 38 years, Debbie Yoast, lovingly describes her husband as a “family man.” Debbie continued to shed more light on John’s humanity, “this was not the first time he had made it a point to hand deliver the mail to his customers, due to them being elderly, sick, or immobile. On one occasion an elderly customer fell while they were home alone, and the customer knew exactly what time John would be delivering their mail. As soon as his customer heard John rustling their mailbox, they called out for John to help and he immediately went to their side and called 911.”

“With almost 35 years of delivering the mail to the residents and businesses in the community of Avalon, John has earned himself an enormous network of customers who truly rely on his consistent mail service and daily acts of kindness,” Lomax commented. “With the month of February encompassing so many reasons to celebrate, our Avalon Post Office team found it most important to recognize one of our own.”

For more information on products and services that the United States Postal Service® offers, visit www.usps.com.

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