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Sample
Stories / Mailboxes
/ Cartoons
December 1 2007
Press release
Kate Drury has been delivering the mail in downtown Amesbury, MA, for 20 years. Because her job provides her with a unique view of people living their lives on her route, she always has a story to tell. Drury's encounters with curious kids, threatening dogs, entertaining elders and the ever-surprising New England weather can inspire her, confound her, or at least make her laugh out loud. "What I like about my job is that it's really about making connections between people, " she says.
Drury wants to share her stories, and stories like them, from some of the 228 thousand letter carriers all across the country, in a book she will publish as a fundraiser for the Postal Employees Relief Fund, a non-profit charity for postal employees who have suffered losses in natural disasters.
Her friend Lois McNulty Hill, a retired Amesbury teacher, is collaborating with her on the book, which they have titled "Carried Away -True Stories From Letter Carriers Across America". Drury's enthusiasm for the human side of postal service is shared by Hill, who says, "I grew up in a blue collar family- literally. My dad, my brother and a sister-in-law were all carriers in Florida and Georgia. Another brother and his wife are working as city carriers now in Cincinnati, and my mother just retired from a career as a window clerk in Florida. I even worked as a letter carrier myself in Newburyport for one memorable year in the 1980s."
Drury and Hill started looking for stories for the book in 2005 by mailing flyers to the editors of newsletters for carrier unions in all 50 states and terrritories in the country. To get the word out, Drury reads sample stories from the book project at every meeting of her carrier's union. She takes stacks of flyers with her to regional conferences and asks her colleagues to distribute flyers at national conferences. Hill slips Carried Away business cards in with gifts and letters to friends and family in other states . "Leave this out for YOUR carrier," she suggests.
Drury's mail route brought another collaborator to the book project.
On a day off, Drury was visiting a favorite customer when she met the woman's niece, NJ Anderson. Anderson is a graphic designer and fine artist from Merrimac, and she was very excited when Drury told her of the book project. The artist eagerly offered her expertise with book design and publishing, and created the website for the project. (www.carried-away.info)
Drury and Hill have collected stories, cartoons, and photos of unusual mailboxes from all parts of the country. Some submissions are no longer than a brief conversation, and others are several paragraphs long. Themes range from heroic to humorous. Hill and Drury are so encouraged by the response
that they are extending their original deadline in order to include as
many stories as possible in the book.
"This is going to be a great book," says Drury. "We want it to show how letter carriers can make a difference in their customer's lives, even if it's just a small one. I know my customers make a difference in my life."
