Labor & Employment Law

Letter Carriers Honor 2010 Heroes of the Year

By James Parks

NALC’s National Heroes of the Year, seated, from left, Deborah Czarny, Penny Bell, James Dupont, Larry Gunkel, Jeffrey Vollmar. Standing, from left, J.D. Stewart and Jack Hayes, Salli Hislop (not pictured: Thomas Nehlen).

James Dupont had just finished delivering mail on his rural Arkansas route when he saw a truck and car collide head-on. Dupont pulled the driver from the truck and, as the vehicle caught on fire, saved a passenger engulfed in flames. He then managed to bend open the door of the burning car to rescue that driver?injuring himself in the process.

“There was no thinking about it. It’s something you see and know you have to get involved,” Dupont told 40/29 TV.  

For his bravery and heroism, Dupont , a member of the Letter Carriers (NALC) Rogers, Ark., Branch 1514, was honored earlier this month as the union?s National Hero of the Year in ceremonies in Washington, D.C.

A total of seven NALC members and one branch were recognized for outstanding efforts to help persons in distress.

NALC President Fredric Rolando said:

These heroes represent the efforts of thousands of letter carriers who not only deliver the mail to 150 million households six days a week, but often assist or save residents in situations involving accidents, fires, crimes or health crises.

Here, briefly are the other Heroes of the Year:

• Eastern Region: Jeffrey Vollmar, Freehold, N.J., Branch 924, ran into a burning house and rescued a woman on the second floor. After bringing her outside, he ran back into the house and put out most of the flames.
• Central Region: Thomas Nehlan, Youngstown, Ohio, Branch 385, helped residents in a burning house reach safety outside. Then later that same afternoon, he helped a 12-year-old boy who had crashed his bicycle into a van in traffic. NALC?s Ohio State Chair John Dyce accepted the award on Nehlen’s behalf.
• Western Region: Salli Hislop, Salt Lake City Branch 111, performed CPR on a customer who suffered a heart attack. Paramedics later revived him, thanks to Hislop?s prompt attention.
• Special Carrier Alert: Penny Bell, Muskegon, Mich., Branch 13, and her substitute Debbie Czarny rescued an older customer who had been on the floor inside her home for four days and was disoriented.
• Humanitarian of the Year: Larry Gunkel, former president of Wichita Branch 201,  helps feed 35,000 families across Kansas and runs a Food 4 Kids backpack program that provides food over the weekend for several thousand Kansas schoolchildren. Gunkel now is retired and is food program manager for the Kansas Food Bank.
• Branch Service Award: Seattle Branch 79 letter carriers were recognized for their work building homes for Louisiana residents displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Jack Hayes and J.D. Stewart represented the branch.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on October 23, 2010 (boomark / email).