EDITOR’S NOTE: It takes many people to keep a community like East Peoria running smoothly. We think you should know who some of those people are and what they do. This is the first in a regular series we will publish about the people — some highly visible, others behind the scenes, most of them our neighbors and friends — who work hard every day to make this a great place to live. If you would like to suggest an individual for this series, call 309-681-4418 or email [email protected].

While the United States Postal Service (USPS) does not have an official motto, the phrase that has become its unofficial motto is: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

“These couriers” are the more than 300,000 letter carriers nationwide who have made it their job to make sure personal letters, business correspondence, publications, and packages get delivered in a timely manner.

Tracy Roskamp has been one of those letter carriers for nearly 30 years. Her career started in East Peoria and she returned to the community last year after covering routes across the river in Peoria.

“I always said when I left (Peoria) that I would come back to East Peoria,” she said.

Most people don’t think twice when they open a package from Amazon or drop a letter or bill payment into a post office collection box. History and experience tell us we can be confident that mail entrusted to the post office will be delivered to the intended address.

Tracy is one of the people who make that happen. She and about 25 other postal workers in East Peoria help keep the community moving forward.

She said her day starts at 7:30 a.m. when she arrives at the Postal Service facility at 415 Washington St. Computers sort most of the letter-sized items, but larger items like magazines and large envelopes need to be sorted by hand. Packages are then sorted, and in a little more than an hour and a half (depending on the volume of mail for the day) everything is loaded into the familiar USPS delivery vehicles and vans.

When she had walking routes in Peoria, Tracy said she could cover 7-13 miles on foot in a day. But those days are over. She now delivers a mostly residential driving route, so she puts mail in mailboxes without leaving her vehicle. Sometimes packages need to be delivered to the door, and residents can arrange to have packages picked up as well.

Tracy confirms the familiar story that official USPS statistics tell: The overall volume of mail has been declining for years. There are fewer first-class letters, but Tracy said the number of packages has increased as online shopping has increased and more people work and sell things from home. On a recent Friday, she said she had 109 packages to deliver.

The Christmas season sees a significant increase in the volume of both letters and packages. 

“I have a different perspective on Christmas being in East Peoria versus being on the East Bluff in Peoria,” she said. “We hardly felt the difference in the East Bluff as far as the volume at Christmas. But here in East Peoria, I worked hard this Christmas.”

Although it becomes rarer every day, Tracy said snail mail (a.k.a. traditional mail), can still make more powerful connections between people than social media, emails, and text messages. 

“When you bring an older person or a little kid a card or a package, and you see their face light up, it is just amazing,” she said. “It just puts a different type of smile on your face.”

“Everything is so digital now that we’ve lost that connection,” she added. “But, you know, it doesn’t take that long to sit down and write a note to someone.”

For many, “getting the mail” is an important part of the daily routine. On light days, Tracy said there are residents who don’t get any mail, and it throws off their routine. The East Peoria Hometown Voice and other newspapers like the Peoria Journal Star are delivered by mail, as are medications, household supplies, and other daily needs. 

“Some people look for us every day,” she said. “I have a guy who orders a lot because he can’t get around very well and he’s constantly apologizing to me. But hey, if he can’t get out and do it, I’m glad that I can bring things to him.”

Letter carriers can also act as unofficial neighborhood watchdogs. They may be the first to notice when mail piles up at a home where it is usually picked up every day. She said there are many stories of seniors who have fallen or otherwise been incapacitated and it is the postal worker who notices that something is not right and alerts authorities.

Tracy said postal workers are always expected to come to work, even when Illinois winter storms cancel schools, businesses close, and travel conditions are hazardous.

“There are days when too many of us get stuck, and they have to call us off. But our job is to do the best we can without hurting ourselves,” Tracy said. “We get the mail out because there are things that people need.”

Tracy lives in Green Valley, but in the time she has been delivering mail in East Peoria she feels she has become part of the community. When she is not on her route, she devotes her time to her church, her kids, and grandkids. She also volunteers at a pregnancy resource center in Pekin and has recently discovered a new love for traveling.

“Everybody that I’ve dealt with has been very welcoming,” she said. “I haven’t had anything that has deterred me or made me regret my decision to come to East Peoria.”