Staff Writer
At the monthly meeting of the Central Aroostook Quality Work Life Employee Involvement group, Jeff Cummings, the rural mail carrier for New Sweden, was presented with a Rural Carrier of the Year award and a postal service watch for the consideration he has shown to his customers and the dedication that he has shown to his position during his years as a rural mail carrier.
Aroostook Republican Photo/Hailee Morin
KEVIN MARQUIS, an executive committee member for Maine Rural Letter Carriers Association, presents New Sweden’s rural mail carrier Jeff Cummings with the Carrier of the Year plaque during a short ceremony at the Caribou Post Office on August 17 as the northern rural letter carrier facilitator for the Central Aroostook Quality Work Life Employee Involvement Group, Pete Laflamme, looks on. Cummings was chosen out of approximately 500 rural carrier to receive the award after he was nominated by fellow rural mail carrier Kathleen Gauvin.
The Rural Carrier of the Year award is one of two honors that the United States Postal Service gives out annually to their employees from each state. With approximately 500 rural carriers in Maine competing for the coveted title each year, the attending Aroostook County postal service workers were extremely pleased to finally see one of their members bring the honor home to Aroostook County. Executive Committee Member for Maine Rural Letter Carriers Association Kevin Marquis of Easton stated that he was “he couldn’t think of a more deserving individual. He (Cummings) exemplifies what all mail carriers should strive to be.”
Cummings has been serving Aroostook County as a mail carrier for the past 19 years. He worked as a Rural Carrier Associate for 15 years substituting in towns across Aroostook County and, in 2004, Cummings finally received his own route and began delivering mail to the occupants of New Sweden. Customers on his route like Chuck and Lisa MacLeod of 148 Hedman Road describe him as “prompt accommodating, considerate and helpful.”
Fellow rural mail carrier, Kathleen Gauvin, wrote a letter to the Maine Rural Letter Carriers Association nominating Jeff for the award. In her letter, she cited a number of incidents where Cummings had gone “beyond the extra mile” to assist his customers.
Most recently, Cummings assisted a person on his route when he happened on a customer, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, on the ground next to his truck. He had been clearing the snow from his driveway. Cummings noticed the customer in trouble, and entered the yard to assist the man to his feet before he succumbed to the frigid northern Maine temperatures.
The Rural Carrier of the Year award is not the first that Cummings has received from the United States Postal Service. Cummings also received the Hero Award when he saved a women who had fallen from her wheelchair into a busy street from being run over by an approaching tractor trailer.
