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Resident 'Postmaster' provides door to door delivery

July 14th, 2020

With COVID visiting restrictions, Canada Post delivery people no longer enter seniors care homes to deliver mail to individual secure mailboxes. Instead, they put it all in a plastic bin, and deposit the bin at the front door. At Points West Living Wainwright, thanks to resident Margaret Archibald, that mail gets from the bin and into residents’ hands in a very professional and personal way.

Canada Post retiree steps up

When General Manager Carli Lopez and her administrative team was faced with the first bin of mail ‘at the beginning of COVID-19’, they decided to ask a couple of residents if they would be willing to help. Independent living resident Margaret Archibald enthusiastically stepped up.

“Margaret retired from Canada Post in 2009, after 25 years delivering postal services to her small town of Irma (30 kilometers northwest of Wainwright),” says Carli. “Everyone in Irma knows Margaret for her smiling face. And now, after moving to Wainwright a year-and-a-half ago, everyone at PWL Wainwright is getting to know her too. She is always full of energy, looking forward to each social activity we have, socializing and meeting new people.”

Door to door delivery

Only current Canada Post employees have access to the master key for the bank of mailboxes, so Margaret delivers each piece of mail to the residents’ rooms. When the bin comes in, she organizes the mail for her route covering 139 suites across the two PWL Wainwright buildings, and sets out.

The real PWL Wainwright Postmaster

“Even after more than three months of delivering mail to all 120 residents, Margaret is still enjoying herself,” says Carli. “She said that she only worked part time in Irma so she was never the ‘real Postmaster’ but is happy to do it now. It has been a pleasure for her to meet new people, have daily chats with those she meets on her route, and a perfect way to stay active. She says she will continue delivering mail until Canada Post will enter our community again.”

Photo: Independent Living resident Margaret Archibald is the current ‘Postmaster’ of PWL Wainwright, sorting and hand-delivering mail during COVID visiting restrictions. Margaret delivered mail for Canada Post in Irma Alberta for 25 years before retiring in 2009. (inset) She still has her Canada Post identification card from that time, and wears it on her rounds.

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