TOWN AND COUNTRY, Mo. — Leaders from a local non-profit say issues with the post office are driving away donations.
As Rachel Miller flips through her photo album, she can’t help but be reminded of how the Holocaust nearly erased her family.
“I figure about 93 people were murdered,” said Holocaust survivor Rachel Miller. “I’m the only one that survived.”
Since being liberated from the Nazis at the end of World War II she vowed to help her people in any way possible.
“If Israel had been a country prior to World War II, 6 million Jews would not have died,” said Miller.
Miller co-founded the non-profit Shaving Israel to support the country’s defense forces.
“The Israeli Army, much like the American Army, doesn’t supply everything to soldiers,” said Laura Goldmeier, President of Shaving Israel.
Since its inception, Shaving Israel has raised more than $450,000 for care packages for Israeli Defense Forces.
However, this Hannukah, both Miller and Shaving Israel President Laura Goldmeier noticed a disturbing trend.
“The checks going back to our post office bounced back to people who sent them,” said Goldmeier.
“Everything is absolutely correct, and what it says is, 'Return to sender, not deliverable as addressed,'” said Miller.
5 On Your Side reporter Holden Kurwicki reached out to the Town and Country Post Office and a manager said that part of the problem is a forwarding address that was filled out in October.
However, members of Shaving Israel say that doesn’t answer questions about why some mail was delivered without a postmark while other letters were returned due to an incorrect return address.
“They all say unable to deliver even though these letters were never sent to these people,” said Miller. “Never.”
“The other thing they said that made no sense to me is that we had used envelopes and used stamps,” said Goldmeier. “We bought them online and they were brand new.”
As Shaving Israel mailers continue to be returned for a variety of reasons, a regional spokesperson for the United Postal Service told 5OYS that he would look into the ongoing issues.
“I find the whole thing very confusing,” said Goldmeier. “I would like them to investigate and find out is this, in fact, someone who is sabotaging our mail or is it a machine error. Exactly what is going on at the post office?”