By Sara Nelson

The workers at the Randolph Post Office are an unusually nice bunch. That this is true can be seen from the flow of sweets into and out of the building: a Hershey’s Kiss dispenser spreads the love to everyone who stops in to buy a book of stamps or drop off a package, and in turn, not a few customers make a habit of dropping by with doughnuts and cookies for the crew.

Sometimes, however postal workers REALLY go above and beyond the call of duty to help out, as Kelly Roberts did recently to help a young woman get home for Thanksgiving.

The recipient of Roberts’ kindness was Deanna Gendren, whose parents, Dawn and Cliff Grout, recently moved from Braintree to Pennsylvania.

Since Gendren didn’t have enough money to make the trip to see her family, including her six siblings, in Pennsylvania, her parents sent a check by overnight mail.

However, on Wednesday morning, a day before Thanksgiving, the check still hadn’t arrived, and it was looking as though Gendren might not be able to get home for the holiday.

Dawn Grout phoned the post office to see if anything could be done. She spoke to Kelly Roberts, who told her there was one more mail truck expected in the afternoon, and that if the check wasn’t in that batch, that she’d be willing to lend Gendren the money—$200—from her own bank account.

The check didn’t arrive, and Roberts was as good as her word, handing Deanna a $200 personal check. Then it was her turn to be surprised and grateful.

"Two minutes after Deanna left, in came the Rosebud flower girl with a bouquet from her parents," she recalled.

Roberts said she doesn’t think she did anything that heroic.

"Anyone would have done the same thing," Roberts said.

Dawn Grout disagrees.

"People don’t do that sort of thing nowadays. I wish I could do more to thank Kelly and the rest of the post office," she said.

"They made our holiday very special."

On the last point, Deanna Gendren concurred.

"Thanksgiving was really good," she declared.