(WSVN) - Mail delivery is something most of us take for granted, but one nonprofit organization says they rely on their mail for supplies and donations, and they’re not getting them. 7’s Andrew Scheinthal explains they’re fed up with the post office “Delivering Trouble.”
Nurse Kyle Smith is making a difference in kids’ lives.
Kyle Smith, nurse, founder of PATCHES (Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care): “Children who have, like, maybe had a transplant or have asthma or seizure disorder. We currently have about 64 children.”
The goal is to make life as normal as possible for these children who need special medical care. Which is why they ordered a special backpack for a 2-year-old girl on a feeding tube.
Kyle Smith: “Normalcy is more important to them than anything. So when you have a problem with a child’s mobility, nurses seek to find out, how do you fix that? And that was our solution.”
The package was supposed to arrive in a couple of days, but it never showed up.
Kyle Smith: “So I went onto the Amazon site and it tells me that it had been delivered at 7:08 on a Saturday. I thought, ‘Uh-oh, we’re not there Saturday and Sunday.’ So I drove over; there was no backpack anywhere to be found.”
Thinking the package may have been stolen, Kyle checked security footage, but it was what she didn’t see that surprised her.
No deliveries were made that day.
Kyle Smith: “There’s no mail truck anywhere to be found.”
They filed a complaint and called the post office to tell them the security footage could only be saved for 25 days.
Kyle Smith: “And they said, ‘No, thanks. We have what we need.’ Boom, done. That was months ago.”
Months without an answer, and it’s been years since they started complaining about being able to send mail. The outgoing mailbox was destroyed by vandals. Again, the business called the post office to complain but got nowhere.
Brandi Funderburgh, PATCHES: “It was very hard to talk to anybody. I’ve been here five years, and we’ve never been able to use the outgoing mail.”
Then they saw our story last month about issues residents in Homestead are having with their mail.
Kyle Smith: “It was, ‘Hallelujah! Finally somebody’s covering this.'”
Brandi Funderburgh: “We didn’t really have a whole lot of relief until we got in touch with you guys.”
It took multiple phone calls and emails for our own producer to get through.
But after our calls, USPS called PATCHES and fixed their mailbox.
Brandi Funderburgh: “We were shocked! We were, like, throwing a little party because it was awesome!”
Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do about the missing backpack and had to order another one.
But Kyle and Brandi say, thanks to 7News, they can get back to focusing their attention on the kids who depend on them.
Kyle Smith: “This is not about me. It’s about those kids.”
Brandi Funderburgh: “It was just nice that we were a priority, and we were very happy that they came out here and did that.”
Now they hope the days of the post office delivering trouble are behind them.
The post office didn’t just replace the outgoing mailbox; they replaced all of the boxes. USPS officials tell us it is not their responsibility to fix mailboxe; it is the responsibility of the business. But, in this case, they took on the responsibility to help the nonprofit out.
If you have a mail issue, we have more information on who to contact below this story.
And if you think there’s something 7News should investigate, give us a call at the numbers on your screen or send an e-mail to clue@wsvn.com.
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