A Tribute To Hawleyville’s Post Office

To the Editor:

I am the national chair for the Prevention of Post Office Closings with the National Association of Postmasters (NAPUS). We contact communities and try to help them prevent their post offices from being closed. I am a retired postmaster.

Hawleyville is one of the “bright and shining stars” in my win column.

The community was organized even before I contacted them. Their desire to keep their post office open is very strong and with the help of the congressional representatives, they were successful in actually getting a new post office built.

This is very rare. I recently wrote an article for our Postmasters’ Gazette, our monthly magazine, about “Communities Love Their Post Office.” McCausland, Iowa, is the prime example. This community completely excavated the building and from scratch rebuilt it. It opened last fall.

I have been doing this for about ten years and the community of Hawleyville was the most organized of any community I have dealt with. We save approximately 60 post offices a year and lose about 60.

I plan on attending their grand opening.

Betty H. Eickler

276 Libertyville Road, New Paltz, N.Y.                    January 6, 2010