By Odelia Bitton
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
DYKER HEIGHTS — For more than three years, residents in Dyker Heights and across New York have been able to maintain a free line of communication with U.S. troops overseas. Back in 2003, employees at the Dyker Heights Post Office initiated a Military Postage Fund, which covered the costs of packages sent from their office to army personnel stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries where troops are deployed.

Those activities have now been “frozen� after the Department of Labor Relations of the United States Postal Service (USPS) last week halted the program due to a violation of ethics.

The attorney at USPS who first reported the violation to officials said the program’s activities were a breach of the Standards of Ethical Conduct as well as the Conduct on Postal Property regulations.

“The hardest part for us is that the holiday season is coming up. It’s the big mailing season,� said Lucille Lovisi, a postal employee at Dyker Heights who has been committed to the cause since its inception.

The local community was “annoyed� by news of the program’s cessation, said Fran Vella-Marrone, who heads the Dyker Heights Civic Association, an organization that had been heavily involved in fundraising for the program.

“One woman in my association has nobody in the military, but she would regularly sent packages to them.� More than 5,000 parcels have been sent out through this program.

Angelo Arena, the initiator of the Military Postage Fund and a supervisor at the post office at 8320 13th Ave., publicized the issue at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Dyker Heights Civic Association. At the meeting, Arena said that since 2003, the program has extended to customers roughly $40,000 worth of postage.

Arena noted that while most participating customers were from Dyker Heights, people would travel to the station from the rest of Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens to take advantage of the program.

But on the morning of Sept. 1, station manager John D’Angelo received a call from Dave Rudy, a manager of human resources at USPS, an employee said. D’Angelo was not available to confirm that and comment at press time.

Rudy, who confirmed that he is involved in overseeing the matter, said, “With the postal service, the only type of fundraising that can be done is through the Combined Federal Campaign. Anything they were doing outside of that, like selling lotteries, is against our rules and regulations.�

That Combined Federal Campaign, Lovisi explained, involves a listing of charities to which employees such as she and Arena can donate money from their paychecks. The Military Postage Fund, which isn’t officially a charitable organization, can’t presently make the list, Lovisi said.

The violations that USPS uncovered include the selling of T-shirts, mugs, Christmas ornaments, and 50/50 raffles and other fundraising efforts, according to a sequence of email exchanges between USPS and the Dyker Heights station, obtained by the Eagle.

Regarding those violations, Lovisi noted, “We haven’t been raising funds since last summer, because we had reserves.�

Indeed, the program had been doing so well that it gained widespread recognition. That includes a personal call of thanks from a serviceman in Iraq. Also, State Sen. Marty Golden officially recognized the program for its initiatives.

While the popular program is currently disbanded, a possible course of remedy has been offered. At Tuesday’s Dyker Heights meeting, Marrone said her association, independent from the post office, would look into creating an account at the station. While the post office can no longer conduct fundraising for the program, other efforts will continue, she said.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
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