Falmouth's Main Street Is #LovingLisa
Visitors of Falmouth’s Main Street have likely seen the pink #LovingLisa bracelets being worn around and sold in the shops. They represent support of postal service worker Lisa Caines, after the longtime Main Street delivery person was diagnosed with breast cancer in early February.
“I am beyond moved, I am so blessed, [and] I have the best customers in the whole world,” Ms. Caines said this week. “It’s amazing [and] it’s overwhelming because I’m a very quiet person. It makes you realize how lucky you can be in a situation, as bad as it is.”
After receiving her diagnosis nearly two months ago, Ms. Caines called her colleague and close friend Crystal Mello to share the news and, immediately, Ms. Mello knew she wanted to do something to help.
“Lisa is a big part of the post office,” Ms. Mello said. “I actually call her the mom of the post office because she’s very selfless and goes above and beyond. She just always makes sure that we have what we need, and you know, new employees come along and she offers her old uniforms or, you know, things like, ‘Hey, you know, there’s a raincoat downstairs.’”
When another colleague suggested the idea of doing a fundraiser for Lisa, Ms. Mello jumped at the idea.
“I went back into the office [and] I made an announcement, let everybody know,” she said. “A few other employees got involved and now [we’re] just letting the whole town of Falmouth know. Pretty much everybody knows her and everybody loves her… she goes above and beyond for her customers.”
A Plymouth resident, Ms. Caines started at the Falmouth Post Office in 2008 and has been delivering on Main Street for long enough that by now, her customers are more like family. So when she had to take a leave of absence from work to begin her chemotherapy treatments, people took notice.
“I’ve been getting cards every day from my customers and I keep them up every day, just so I have a reminder when I don’t feel good that I am very blessed,” Ms. Caines said.
Ms. Caines said that Patrick, the man helping to cover her route, has been helpful in letting people know about her recent diagnosis and has also been helping Ms. Mello to spread the word about the fundraising efforts she has organized to benefit the Caines family.
So far, Ms. Mello and some other post office colleagues—Katie, Julie, Danielle, and Mary—have been meeting once a week to plan a fundraising event for Ms. Caines. The event is scheduled for May 22 and will take place at the Falmouth Elks from 1 to 6 PM. Entry will be a $10 donation at the door, Ms. Mello said, but nobody will be turned away if they do not have the money.
“I just want people to come in, have fun, buy some raffle tickets. We’re going to have a 50-50 raffle,” Ms. Mello said. “We’re going to have lots of prizes. Thank goodness for the town because they’re all stepping up and we have a lot of local stores and shops donating things and we also have local restaurants donating food. It’s great; the amount of support is unbelievable.”
The event was intended to be a surprise, but Ms. Caines unintentionally found out about it on Facebook. Now that she does know, however, she feels excited about the event, albeit a little bit nervous, especially from a health standpoint. Currently on her third chemotherapy treatment, Ms. Caines has three weeks between each session and will be on her sixth session by the time the event rolls around at the end of May.
“I hope I’m feeling good,” she said. “Right now I feel decent. Today isn’t a good day, but I’m hoping that I feel good [for the event]. With each treatment, you feel a little worse, [but] mine are spread apart, thank God, so I have a chance to get back to feeling better.”
In just the few weeks since Ms. Caines’s diagnosis, Ms. Mello and her team of colleagues have raised $1,000 by selling “Fight For Lisa” T-shirts and well over $500 from their “#LovingLisa” pink bracelets that Ms. Mello’s wife designed. Bracelets are available for purchase at a number of businesses on Main Street in Falmouth, and all of the proceeds will go directly to the Caines.
“It really helps to have a great support system,” Ms. Caines said. “I just thank the community, my family at the post office, all my customers, everybody. [They] have been more than wonderful. I say it all the time: I am blessed with the people on my route because they have become more than customers, they have become friends and family and I am so blessed. Love is what gets me through every day.”