Single mom-of-two, Lisette LeJeune, had been isolating for weeks at her home in Houston while battling COVID-19 and depended on family members to deliver food and medical supplies to her doorstep.
“I was really sick the first week, so it was really hard trying to take care of both of them,” LeJeune said of her sons, ages 14 and 3. “It’s so hard being a single mom.”
Last Tuesday as her 3-year-old son became the sickest, someone dropped off a mystery package outside her front door it was her very own USPS Secret Santa. “I thought maybe a family member brought something, but usually they call or text me to tell me,” she said.
The package had cans of chicken soup, orange juice, crackers, and cookies. LeJeune discovered a note from the woman who she had only waved to a few times before they spoke on the morning LeJeune learned she had tested Covid positive.
It read: “Get well wishes. I hope you all are feeling better,” signed “USPS-Carrier, Mary.”
The mother-of-two was shocked by the woman’s generosity and checked her doorbell camera footage where she saw Mary delivering the package. She took to social media to share photos of the note and care package on Facebook. “The sweetest thing happened this morning that made my entire year,” LeJeune wrote.
“I opened the door one day with my mask on and told my mail lady that we had Covid and I would put a bucket in front of the house so she could just drop it in without touching our mailbox. This morning we received a care package from her.”
“What made me emotional was just the thought of her getting the bag ready, in the morning before starting work or the night before, just her having us in mind with her daily routine,” LeJeune said. “We were having a hard time here at home getting anything delivered and our family was helping us, but still I couldn’t run out to get anything last-minute. I had just run out of orange juice and I needed that to give to my son.”
That morning, LeJeune had warned the mail carrier against putting her mail in the mailbox due since she did not want to risk infecting her. She told them she would leave a bucket outside of her front door for the mail. “She said, ‘OK, thank you,’ and that was it,” recalled LeJeune, a makeup artist who has been out of work during isolation. “I guess she saw the bucket was still there in front of my door two weeks later.”
The mail carrier, Mary, when contacted for an interview declined it and asked for her last name not to be used, but issued a statement through the spokesperson for the United States Postal Service (USPS).
“I was just making a small gesture of kindness. The customer expressed concerns about my well being with contacting the same mailbox as her while she was sick,” Mary said in a statement. “After a few days, I left a get well gift at her doorstep because I appreciated her concern. I didn’t expect it to get so big but I would have done the same for anybody.”
The sweetest thing happened this morning that made my entire year… as you know I’ve been home in quarantine with…
Posted by LisetteLash LeJeune on Tuesday, December 15, 2020
LeJeune has left a thank you note for Mary at her doorstep, and she and her sons plan to deliver an in-person thank you, from a safe distance, once they are out of quarantine. She has now tested negative for COVID-19 and is awaiting her sons’ latest test results. “She’s a stranger to us and that was the kindest part,” she said of Mary’s gesture. “She just did it for us.”