‘I take a lot of pride in what I do. I like helping people, and I do feel like this job is about helping people.’

Amanda Foster, East Northport

“I always wanted a civil service job. I worked in retail for six years, and I took a bunch of civil service tests. I took the Postal Service test and they called me back. So then I went further with the orientation, the interviews, and they said, ‘You’re good to go. We want you to work for us.’

“I spent a lot of time in East Northport growing up, and now that’s my route. I have 299 stops, which is a shorter route. I’ve had as many as 800 stops before.

“As a kid, it was so exciting getting mail. I have a friend that’s still obsessed with the post office. It’s even more important now because no one writes letters anymore. It doesn’t seem like a big gesture, but it is to take the time out to pick the card, to physically write and to send it out.

People enjoy seeing a friendly face, and they look forward to seeing their mail carrier.

“Christmas, you see a lot of red and green in the mail. Then you see Mother’s Day is a lot of pink. Then I know someone’s birthday coming up because I can tell by the different cards. I love seeing that because now it’s so easy to just text our friends. We rarely write letters.

“I watch kids grow up and, at the same time, I’m watching another person pass away. I’m delivering your wedding invitation and other important milestones. I am watching the circle of life. It’s crazy and so beautiful. I feel so connected and part of all of it.

“My mind shifts constantly throughout the day because there are so many different people in all stages of life. I’ll never forget, last year I had a customer, he was 101. He just got really sick, and he just declined. I remember I was delivering, and the house next door got a new trampoline. I remember literally standing there on the other side of the street and watching these young people jumping around, and then their neighbor is getting ready to transition to hospice.

“People enjoy seeing a friendly face, and they look forward to seeing their mail carrier. It’s the only career where we’re there at your door every day. I take a lot of pride in what I do. I like helping people, and this job is about helping people. I’m civil servant; it’s a service. I think a lot of people relate to that. I feel like it’s a jackpot. I like being outdoors. I get my exercise; I’m interacting with people.”

Interviewed by Maggie Rose Melito

‘When I lost my parents, I had to be strong for my family. When I got cancer, I had to be strong for me.’

East Northport

“My mom died in a car accident heading to my stepsister’s rehearsal dinner. Then my father got hit by a car walking across the street and died on impact. My stepfather, who I look at as my own dad, got into a car accident as well and lost his leg.

“I had to basically take care of everybody. I helped my stepdad raise my little brother, who was 11 when my mom died, and then when my dad died, I had to help raise my sister on his side. During COVID, not only did I lose my dad, but I was dealing with trying to keep my business, Revolution Fitness, afloat. Finally, when the dust settled in early 2021, I started having health complications. I had a pain in my back; we thought it was my gallbladder, so we had it removed to find out it wasn’t my gallbladder. It was a tumor on my spine. It was a non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare subtype called anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Fortunately, I caught it very early.

At the end of the day, life is going to try to knock you down. It’s up to us to get back up.

“When I reached out to one of my mediums, he said to me that the pain that I was dealing with in my back was my mom letting me know that’s where the cancer was. I always said to people that it was like somebody was literally holding my spine and trying to rip it out of my back. Once they saw on the MRI that it was a tumor, the pain went away. My medium also said by the third chemo treatment, which happened to be on my birthday, I would be cancer free, and he was right; the tumor was gone. We did three more treatments to be on the safe side, but it was hard because it took me away from my business even more than COVID did, because at least then we were able to do outdoor classes, virtual classes, private sessions. We gave our clients the option to freeze their memberships during COVID, but 85 percent of them decided to keep them open to support us.

“Everybody in this town has my back. I grew up here. I went to Northport High School, and I made sure my business was going to be in East Northport. Once I was cleared to return to work, I didn’t take another day off for months. When I lost my parents, I had to be strong for my family. When I got cancer, I had to be strong for me, which I wasn’t used to. At the end of the day, life is going to try to knock you down. It’s up to us to get back up.”

Interviewed by Hannah Fusaro

‘I had my children, who were in fourth and second grade, go to my graduation from library school so they could see good things happen when you pursue your dreams even when there are obstacles.’

East Northport

“I began my career after college in rehab counseling for New York City, a challenging situation with a 100-person caseload. I changed careers and went back to school for computer science, which was in high demand and cutting edge. When I got married, my husband worked for the Department of Defense, so we needed to be on Long Island. Without family and friends, the local library was my lifeline.

“I met friends at the toddler programs and my children began their love of books. I decided to reinvent myself again by becoming a librarian. There were challenges along the way to my second master’s degree, especially with two young children and during this time my husband had a terrible accident resulting in a spinal cord injury. He’s doing better now.

We knew parents were isolated and overwhelmed, so we utilized Facebook to provide programming available anytime.

“I had my children, who were in fourth-and second-grade, go to my graduation from library school so they could see good things happen when you pursue your dreams even when there are obstacles. I worked part-time at Westbury Library and Islip Library, and when my homelife settled down I started a full-time job 14 years ago at Half Hollow Hills Community Library where I’m head of Children’s Services. The pandemic has presented challenges to serving our patrons. We knew parents were isolated and overwhelmed, so we utilized Facebook to provide programming available anytime.

“Our library quickly adapted our use of social media for our community with videos and live streams for children to see their librarians every day. We wanted to be a reassuring, familiar face, so we created a daily schedule of story times and tutorials for students. We reached out to our PTAs to share library online resources to help students with remote learning and provided WiFi hotspots to every student in the district who didn’t have internet. Our book drop became a food drop donation for local food pantries. The library has had an important role in my life and I’m happy to share with families the potential of what libraries can offer in their lives.”

‘Finding a new passion at my age is really exciting. Anybody who has any type of passion should move forward with it at any age.’

East Northport

“My mother dabbled in art, so I was interested as a kid, but I never took an art class. I didn’t start drawing until I was in college and I did one charcoal drawing when I had spare time. It was a pair of shoes that melded into dried, cracked earth. Now I am exhibiting it. After that, I hadn’t done many drawings until I retired about seven years ago. It started out as a hobby.

“People really seemed to like my charcoal drawings. I focused on Long Island and New York City landmarks using photographs that I took. We went on a lot of family trips over the years, so I would use those photos too. Now I’m introducing pastel and splashes of color in my drawing. My wife thinks I draw a lot of architecture because I wanted to be an architect in high school; maybe that’s why my work is very detail-oriented. I’m still using my T-Square that I had used for architectural drawing.

I found Rebuilding Together Long Island. We do safety repairs for existing homeowners that can’t afford to maintain their homes. It’s done by volunteers of mostly retired people. It is very gratifying.

“I always said that if I’m successful in what I’m doing in my career, I have to give back. I do that through my art, but when I retired, I also looked for an organization that was going to have an immediate impact on the community. I found Rebuilding Together Long Island. We do safety repairs for existing homeowners that can’t afford to maintain their homes. Whether it’s electrical, plumbing, floors, fixing Sheetrock — it’s all free. It’s done by volunteers of mostly retired people. It is very gratifying.

“During the pandemic, we built desks for low-income areas that have kids that can’t afford desks or even space for them. It promoted good study habits too. I want to keep challenging myself because I feel like I can do a lot. I’m still pinching myself because people like my work. It takes me four months to make some of it. I’ve had some solo art shows and I’ve been accepted into rotational art programs. I won first place for charcoal drawings in one of them. I’ve been included in library galleries all across Long Island. I’m able to do something that I enjoy, so I consider myself extremely lucky. I owe that to my mother. On my drawing table, I have a photo of her drawing. Finding a new passion at my age is really exciting. Anybody who has any type of passion should move forward with it at any age.”