A seven-year-old boy who asked postal workers to deliver a card to his late dad for his birthday received the most touching response from Royal Mail.
Teri Copland, the boy’s mum, shared a photo of the envelope that her son Jase Hyndman had written on which read: “Mr Postman. Can you take this to heaven for my dad’s birthday? Thanks.”
Jase and his 10-year-old sister Neive have marked their father James’s birthday every year since he died in May 2014.
The seven-year-old posted his card a few weeks ago and yesterday received a lovely response from the mail company, which Teri said restored her faith in humanity.
“Dear Jase,” read the letter from Sean Milligan, Royal Mail’s assistant delivery office manager. “While we’ve been delivering your post, we became aware of some concerns. So I just wanted to take this opportunity to contact you about how we succeeded in the delivery of your letter to your dad in heaven.”
It was a difficult challenge, they noted, as they had to “avoid stars and other galactic objects” en route to heaven. “However please be assured that this particular important item of mail has been delivered,” Milligan wrote.
“Royal Mail’s priority is to get our customers mail delivered safely. I know how important your mail is to you. I will continue to do all I can to ensure delivery to heaven safely.”
Mum-of-two Teri, from Blackburn, took to Facebook to share photos of the card her son had posted, and the letter back from Royal Mail. “I actually cannot state how emotional he is knowing his dad got his card,” she wrote.
Addressing Royal Mail, Teri said: “You didn’t have to make the effort to do this, you could have just ignored it but the fact that yous have made the effort for a little boy you’ve never met is such a lovely thing to do.
“Royal Mail you’ve just restored my faith in humanity and thank you, it honestly means the world to him. Please share this so all the staff at Royal Mail know just how grateful we are. Thanks and merry Christmas.”
Her post received over 40,000 comments. Linda Pointer Howard said it was a “lovely gesture” while Dorothy Owen said it was quite simply “beautiful”.
Teri later told PA: “I’ve always told Neive and Jase even if you can’t get anyone a present it’s always nice to make sure you send a card at Christmas and birthdays.
“I want people to realise that a small gesture of kindness can have such a fantastic impact on someone’s life… Royal Mail actually took part and that gives me so much comfort.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “Jase’s letter touched us all. We are very proud of Sean for his response to give some comfort to Jase and his family. It was the least we could do to let him know his letter hadn’t been ignored.”
