Letter Carriers Recognized as Heroes of the Year

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Letter carriers who protected a woman being pursued by an assailant, pulled residents from a burning home, found a missing child or saved a man having a health crisis are among those to be honored on May 11.

Christine Cambizaca of Torrington, CT, just a month into her job, risked her own safety by protecting a bloodied and bruised woman, too frightened to speak, from a knife-wielding attacker. She is the 2022 National Hero of the Year. The Eastern Region Hero is Eric Smith of Charleston, WV, who braved intense heat and thick smoke to rescue two unconscious residents from a house consumed by fire. Darin Chew of Sun City, AZ, the Western Region Hero, used his Marine Corps CPR training to save an unconscious postal customer who was under a car and wasn’t breathing.

Several other carriers also are being recognized as 2022 Heroes. They represent thousands of letter carriers who not only deliver the nation’s mail six or even seven days a week, but often assist in situations involving accidents, fires, crimes or health crises, or improve the communities in which they work.

Eric Beu, Casey Ritchie, Meagan Sperling and Jeremiah Grant of Oklahoma City, winners of the Unit Citation Award, returned a 1-year-old boy to his father after investigating a car suspiciously abandoned in the middle of the street, engine running. The Central Region Hero, Sherri Baker of Little Rock, AR, tried to stop several assailants from shooting a man and then robbing him after he fell to the ground; she then focused on trying to save the victim. Baker takes solace, she says, in the fact that at least he did not die alone.

Anthony Picariello of Philadelphia, who underwent open-heart surgery as a child and whose newborn daughter needed surgery, spends much of his free time making holidays joyous for hospitalized children; he is the Humanitarian of the Year. Christopher Lippy of Harrisburg, PA is the Special Carrier Alert winner; his alertness and his actions ended a mail-fraud scheme targeting an elderly couple on his route. 

The National Association of Letter Carriers Heroes of the Year will be honored by NALC Executive Vice President Paul Barner at a special luncheon at noon on Thursday, May 11, at the Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC. Because the pandemic prevented the prior two annual ceremonies from being held, the event also will recognize 2020 and 2021 Heroes winners.

Go to nalc.org/heroes for further information on the Heroes, including text and photos.

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NALC represents letter carriers across the country. Its 293,000 members make it the largest of the four unions representing employees of the United States Postal Service. Founded by Civil War veterans in 1889, NALC is among the country’s oldest labor unions. 

SOURCE National Association of Letter Carriers