VALLEJO TOGETHER, BRIDAL SHOP PARTNER TO GET MAIL TO HOMELESS
Retired teacher happily helps with 'Prius Pony Express'
Rose Laugtug has an easy mail route.
Every Friday, she stops at Bere’s Bridal on Broadway Street, collects the appropriate correspondences, and parks her 2012 Toyota Prius in the lot of Love Life Church of God in Christ on Tennessee Street.
It’s only a literal one-minute drive for Laugtug. But it means the world to around 150 of the community’s homeless who have a much-needed hub to pick-up support checks, DMV mail, and other important and not-so-important documents.
It also means the world to Laugtug, especially since it’s not her job. She volunteers on behalf of Vallejo Together, happily helping the homeless on several fronts since retiring from school teaching in 2014.
Laugtug sorts the mail, typically stocking the back of her vehicle with pastries, bread and other food items, and props the hatchback open, awaiting for those-in-need to stroll up to her car for their mail.
“She’s fantastic,” praised Vallejo Together’s interim executive director Francie McInerney-MacMillan, adding that Laugtug is ideal for the role “because she loves people.”
McInerney-MacMillan said the nonprofit has helped the homeless with their mail by securing a destination address “five or six years,” started by the late Maria Guevara. Laugtug has taken on the responsibility for about two years.
Bere’s Bridal owners Maria Sanchez and Kevin Sandoval gladly offered their business as a mailing address, McInerney-MacMillan said.
“They keep all our mail, we pick it up, organize it, and hand it out,” said McInerney-MacMillan, who did the job “for a while” when it was twice a week.
“Right now, Rose is the mail lady, Thank God,” McInerney-MacMillan said, adding that Laugtug sorts between 60 and 80 new pieces of mail every Friday morning.
The homeless can sign up to use the bridal shop as their address, informed of the service by word-of-mouth, fliers that Vallejo Together distributes or from Vallejo Together volunteers.
With 150 registered names, there’s a “core group” of about 25 who typically use the service out of the church lot. Vallejo Together often delivers mail to individuals who can’t make it to downtown, McInerney-MacMillan said.
“Most important is the information they get from the county or from DMV,” she added.
There are homeless who have used the mail service for more than a year, McInerney-MacMillan said, believing that picking up mail offers “a sense of something” that’s stable in their lives.
Laugtug was asked why she’s
been the “Prius Pony Express” for two years — and became emotional.
“There are so many nice people who are homeless,” she said. “They’re just wonderful and I think that people don’t know that. Yes, there are some people who have mental illness or addiction and I encounter some of that.”
Almost 100 percent are grateful, said Laugtug, noting that she’s even cajoled some into wearing face coverings during COVID-19.
“I have masks with me and in the beginning, I had to train these people,” she said, explaining “You don’t have a mask and I’m old. Please wear this for me.”
“Not one person refused the mask. Not one,” Laugtug said.
Some who pick up mail may just offer a “thank-you” and walk off.
Many, however, “tell me their stories,” said Laugtug.
Though the homeless only get mail if they sign up, some can go months without returning — if they return.
“I’ll hold onto mail for six months. If I haven’t seen them, I’ll return it to sender,” Laugtug said.
Friendly as can be, she realizes the importance of her service.
“The need is so great,” Laugtug said, perfectly happy being “kind of a behind-the-scenes person.”
A Vallejoan since 1986, “I was always busy raising a family and making a living. I never really had time to explore my community,” Laugtug said. “And so, I knew I wanted to give back in retirement. I’m very active and I didn’t want to stop.”
As a volunteer, “if there’s an opportunity and after a couple of tries, I think ‘this isn’t for me,’ I can walk away. That’s freedom,” said Laugtug.