Bluffton P.O. fails to deliver club's mail, $32,000 in donations

The Boys & Girls Club of Bluffton prides

itself on responding to mail as quickly as possible. When the club gets donations, staff members send out thank you notes within two days.

That's part of the reason why club administrators are so upset that the Bluffton branch of the U.S. Post Office neglected to deliver more than 130 pieces of mail -- including letters that contained more than $32,000 in donations -- over the past two months.

The Bluffton Boys & Girls Club has a post

office box in Bluffton that director Molly O. Smith or someone from the club checks every day. During the past two months, there have been a few pieces of mail in the box every day, so no one with the club noticed a serious problem.

"There was never an empty P.O. box to make us say, 'We're never getting any mail ... what's going on here?' " Smith said.

Officials did see a problem, however, with the club's lackluster fundraising levels in December. The Boys & Girls Club traditionally sees an increase in donations during its year-end drive. But this year, there was a decrease.

"I thought it was because of the economy," Smith said.

Club officials suspected a different problem when donors started calling to say their checks hadn't been cashed. Then last month, the director got a call from a representative of a local charity asking why she didn't attend a luncheon where the club was awarded a grant. Smith never received the invitation. So she went to the Bluffton post office -- where she goes nearly every day -- and demanded

answers.

Bluffton Postmaster George Finley responded, arriving at the front counter with a box filled to the brim with mail, Smith said.

"I was shocked," she said, adding that Finley apologized, but offered no explanation for the delivery delay. Attempts by The Island Packet to reach Finley for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.

Finley was not available for comment Thursday, and a USPS spokesman for the Lowcountry said she couldn't respond by the end of the day.

Smith said the box was so heavy that a colleague had to bring it to the office using a dolly. When the two dumped the mail onto the floor, Smith found letters containing checks and credit card pledges for donations; overdue bills; grant applications, which in some cases were past or nearing deadlines; and invitations to events -- including the one she missed in January.

"I'm concerned about what we're still missing," she said.

Ironically, Smith also found two notices saying she had bulk mail to pick up

"It's scary. You trust the U.S. Postal Service that rain, sleet or snow, your mail is going to come to you," she said. "I'm at the post office every day, and no one has said a word about that mail."

Even with an upcoming gala to plan, staff members at the Bluffton Boys & Girls Club have spent this week calling donors to apologize and explain the situation. The club's marketing director, Sallie Stone said staff will continue to deal with unanticipated fallout over the coming weeks.

For example, some invitations for the gala were among the neglected mail, having been stamped "return to sender."

"There are probably people out there wondering where their invitations are," Stone said.

Still, Smith wants a public apology from the post office.

"The post office is not that big," she said. "For over two months, they had to be putting mail in that tub, walking by it every day."