As testimony to their character and benevolence, New York
District Letter Carriers showered co-worker Jean Wijaya with help and support
after her family lost all their possessions to a devastating house fire in
Queens NY.
While most Americans were gearing up for the Memorial Day
holiday on the morning of May 28, 2012, Wijaya and her family found themselves
fleeing their rented home after a neighbor had alerted them of the fire
spreading throughout the three-family wood frame house.
Fortunately everyone in the house got out safely, but after
the FDNY had put the fire out, the structure was deemed unlivable and the
Wijayas were suddenly homeless––left with literally just the clothes on their
backs.
Still in shock, Wijaya called her friend and co-worker
Marguerite Brybag-Kelly who immediately offered them a place to stay.
“Jean is a good friend,” said Brybag-Kelly, “My place is
small, but I dropped everything I was doing to help her out.”
“My husband went to stay with family and friends, while the
children and I stayed with Marguerite,” said Wijaya. “It was chaos. But the
next day, I went to work.”
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| Some of the Letter Carriers at JAF who came together to help co-worker Jean Wijaya and her family |
Word spread quickly among all employees and Letter Carriers from
Lenox Hill North and Franklin D. Roosevelt stations began their own collection for
the family. When The Better Angels of Our
Human Nature, a charitable organization started by Postal employees,
learned about Wijaya’s situation, they collected funds to buy her new Postal uniforms.
“I was really overwhelmed at how generous everyone was to me
and my family,” smiled Wijaya.
Things started looking up for the Wijayas––who were already in
contract to buy a house––after they asked their attorney to speed up the closing
process, and amazingly they were able to close and move into their new home
just five days after the blaze had turned their lives upside-down. “We had no
furniture at all in our new house so we slept on the floor. But at least we
didn’t have a lot to move,” laughed Wijaya.
Thanks again to her pal Marguerite, furniture started coming
in.
“My sister was moving to a new place, so I asked her to
contribute a bed room set and a kitchen table,” said Brybag-Kelly. “Jean is
such a good person that I was happy to help anyway I could.”
“I think Jean may have not realized how strong the unity we
have here is,” said JAF Letter Carrier Shameeka France. “We are a Postal family, and we all look out for
each other.”
“It’s a blessing the way everybody came together to help,”
said Wijaya as she and her family are gradually easing back into a more routine
lifestyle. “I really feel the love from all my co-workers. I don’t know how we
would have made it without them.”