Dear Editor,

To the good people of American Samoa:

On Nov. 22, 2013, I mailed four boxes to the Federal Post Office at Pago Pago. Three boxes arrived, and the fourth was sent to Moana Hatcher. She went to the post office daily for over two months and was told it hadn’t arrived.

I found the tracking number and Mrs. Hatcher gave the number to the post office.  Strangely they remembered the large box arriving on Dec. 11, 2013, but said it had the wrong P.O. Box number on it. So they gave the box to someone else!!!  Even worse, everyone in the post office and most on the island know Moana Hatcher, so no box number would have been necessary.

In the 38-pound box were over fifty stuffed animals for the sick children, swimwear for a school and other children, a box of pink fire hats, 90 of 100, the balance of 10 were in another box. People in North Carolina and I have donated toys to the children of American Samoa for years and I will not let the questionable practices of the American Samoa Post Office deter me.

My thanks to the people that donated these toys in the lost box; Capt. Reed and the brave men and women of the Jacksonville Fire Department, Jacksonville, North Carolina and other donors. Notification of this unfortunate incident will be given to all those connected, including the Office of Inspector General of the United States Postal Service.

Sincerely,

Ralph S. Howard

(Editor’s Note: My question: Why didn’t the people who received the box return it? Perhaps, Christmas came early to that family in need…ra)