Write Letters To Bring Cheer To Others

avatar

Hello friends!

I have sometimes in the past written letters to people in prison, as I believe it's important to be supportive and help people if you can. Having connections to the outside helps people deal with the stresses of prison life, and makes them less likely to reoffend, according to what I've read. Most people aren't in there for something serious (different orgs trying to get pen pals for prisoners may or may not tell you why they're in jail), and people in prison for protesting or drugs or something aren't monsters! But I understand that some people are kind of afraid to do this. They feel uncomfortable sharing their address with a prisoner. And these days, the last couple people I've tried to write, both in jail for protests, none of my letters have gotten through, they're all returned to me for silly rules like, the envelope was off-white instead of white. Frustrating!

So if you think you'd like to write letters to cheer someone up but are a bit nervous about writing a prisoner, I have two other options for you!

https://loveforourelders.org/letters is a site that lists a small number of elderly folks who could use some cheer. The goal is to get several people to write over the course of the month, and then deliver them a whole bundle of letters at once.

These might be widows and widowers who are lonely and live alone, people in assisted living facilities, or people about to retire and not sure what they're going to do in retirement as they've always worked.

The end of August is the deadline for the current list of folks (there are 8, you can write one or all of them), so be sure to send soon or wait for the September list. :)

Write to a homeless shelter

The is also a homeless shelter in Oklahoma City that accepts letters that they leave on the beds for guests. You can write an encouraging note(s) and send them to:

City Care Night Shelter
532 N. Villa Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK 73107

You're not sharing your address with all the people, the shelter is distributing your notes just as a positive thing. :)

I hope this post encourages you too get your random acts of kindness on and share a note of kindness today! :)

hive-181017 letters palnet proofofbrain archon cheer elders homeless penpals randomactsofkindness
0
0
0.000
9 comments
avatar

Hello @phoenixwren this is wonderful and resonates with me on so many levels, I literally went through the Elderly page you shared, I want to do it but in my country we rarely send letters, the post office aren't even working, it's more of emails here and I am miles away, so what would you advise I do as I really want to write a letter to them.

I await you feedback

Thanks.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Thank you for checking it out!
I did a little bit more searching and all the sites I could find with similar ideas all require physical mail. I know there are email programs for prisoners, but I couldn't find one for elders. There are companies like Postable that will send physical mail for you, but that's costly I think, like a few dollars per card? I don't have a printer myself so I couldn't even print for you.
I think the emphasis on physical mail is a) it's special because it's more rare nowadays and also b) a lot of elders are not great with computers or don't have one.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

This is so sad, I asked around today for the cost of sending these letters and it's expensive, I really wish I could do something about it.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Me too! It sucks that mail is not a regular thing for you. :( Thank you for trying, anyway!
!BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

This is nice but I don't think the people living outside the United States cannot be a part of this
Am I right?

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

You can send from anywhere! I even looked at the Instagram for the elders group, and a while back one of the elders everyone wrote to was in Singapore, so it's worldwide!
Sending for August probably wouldn't get there in time though, so you may want to wait for the September names?
!LUV

0
0
0.000
Reply