THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502100232
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, VIRGINIAN-PILOT/LEDGER-STAR
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
It's not often that a mail carrier delivers hugs with the mail.
But at Port Norfolk Baptist Church, where a makeshift post office has been set up for the month, the postmaster is likely to offer a hug with that special ``Valentine,'' ``Get Well'' or ``Thinking of You'' card.
Through the end of February, H.S. ``Buck'' Newsome will don a red smock and matching red ball cap at least twice a week to become the ``PNBC (Port Norfolk Baptist Church) Love Postmaster.''
Newsome, of Lynn Shore, also sports a button declaring him the ``Official Hug Tester.''
Because the church has labeled February ``Love Reaching Out Month,'' the congregation has been asked to send cards, letters and notes of appreciation to each other.
``There is magic in a note,'' the Rev. Ector Lee Hamrick, pastor of the church, recently wrote in a church bulletin. ``Let those who are special to you know by putting your sentiments down on paper.''
Correspondence, stamped in red with ``You Are Loved at Port Norfolk Baptist Church,'' will be distributed during Sunday school classes and Wednesday night church suppers.
The notes also will be delivered (or mailed, depending on the distance) to homebound members and those in nursing homes, hospitals or in the military.
``We had a good mailing Sunday,'' Newsome, said of the first batch of deliveries on Feb. 5. About 200 cards were distributed.
``Of course, it'll get heavier as we go along toward the middle of the month,'' said Newsome, a 77-year-old retired businessman. ``I come in on Wednesdays and I go through them and start stamping them . . . I'm not going to let them get behind, where I'll be too busy at one time.''
The post office, located in the fellowship hall entrance, actually is a wooden partition decorated with hearts and cupids. It has a mail slot, a window behind which the postmaster can sit and a slot for financial donations to the Annie Armstrong Mission, a Baptist foreign mission program.
``I don't think it really has to do as much with money as it has to do with being able to contact others who are not able to be here,'' said church member Cameron Pitts. Pitts' father, the Rev. R. Clayton Pitts, was pastor of Port Norfolk Baptist Church for 24 years.
``It's also about members making contact with other members,'' said Pitts, a city councilman. ``You've got some members who don't have much contact with each other because one might be in the choir while the other is in the congregation. And this is just a way to let them know we appreciate them.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Through the end of February, H.S. ``Buck'' Newsome will be the
``PNBC (Port Norfolk Baptist Church) Love Postmaster.''
by CNB