By Lynne T. Jewell
An LFIA Instagram post thanking Los Feliz mail carrier Oscar Osorio for his dedication received a bundle of “likes” and brought the popular postal worker some national media attention.
The 22-year postal veteran serves 450 customers on the east side of 90027. Many of them know him by his first name and for his friendly and thoughtful customer service. “Oscar’s a treasure,” said one of his long-time customers and LFIA member Dora Brockway.
By happenstance, following the recent LFIA Instagram post (@the_lfia), things took off and Osorio was in demand for media interviews.
On Mother’s Day, this father of three girls had a cameo appearance on NBC Comedy Festival. Comedian Cedric the Entertainer shouted out “Oscar, the mailman,” who was standing next to his signature mail truck on New Hampshire Avenue garbed in COVID-19 protective gear. How good is that? His photo also ran in the New York Post and other newspapers around the country.
Osorio, who followed in his father’s postal career footsteps, said his daughters “see their daddy as an essential worker who has a very important job to do.” And, as his seven-year-old nephew wrote in a school report, frontline workers like his uncle are “superheroes.”
Another grateful customer on his route is LFIA member Carlos Medina: “He dispenses messages of love, friendship, news and occasionally (okay, daily) junk mail. I thank you, Oscar, for your service!”
LFIA not only appreciates the more than 50 postal carriers in Los Feliz, but all the other frontline workers who are out there in our community providing lifelines during the coronavirus crisis.
We especially thank the healthcare workers—doctors, nurses, support staff– saving lives every day. The First Responders from LAFD’s Fire Stations 35 and 56, LAPD’s Northeast Division and the 911 operators. The incredibly hard-working staffers at our local markets and the restaurants and specialty shops with take-out and curbside service, we thank you!
All the delivery personnel who bring us our online packages and bags of food. The schoolteachers who provide lessons via virtual classrooms. The volunteers who buy groceries for our shut-in seniors. The City Hall employees. The sanitation crews. The public transit drivers. And let’s not forget the animal shelter workers and the zookeepers. Our gratitude list is endless.
We also salute the residents of Los Feliz for nightly serenading our heroes. It’s become a ritual in sections of the community to give thanks to the frontline’s essential workers with cheering, clapping and clanking pots and pans. One high schooler on Waverly Drive entertains his neighbors by playing a musical medley of “Amazing Grace” and “Hector the Brave” on his bagpipes.
Sometimes it’s the smallest of gestures that give the biggest thanks to folks like Oscar Osorio and all the other dedicated workers who take extra-good care of us during these trying times. Follow LFIA on Instagram: @the_lfia.
A version of this column ran in the Los Feliz Ledger’s June 2020 issue.