The Garland County Library and the Oaklawn Center on Aging's "Send Some Love" project has let people make connections with local seniors at a time when many are isolated by sending them letters.
"We wanted to reach out to the community so this was a way that we could do that that was gonna be safe and hopefully brighten someone's day, help make them feel seen," said Brook Olsen, children's programmer and clerk with the Garland County Library.
People wrote to "perfect strangers," Olsen said, sometimes sending short stories or anecdotes from their lives.
"This was a wonderful opportunity to connect and hopefully make someone's day," said Karen C. in a comment submitted to those working on the project for this story. "I believe we have all learned that life can change in an instant and we need to be nice to each other. I enjoyed being able to brighten the day of someone that may have been isolated from friends and family for the last year."
"Somebody was an all-star. They wrote up to 20 letters, and they were all short stories, kind of," said Olsen. "So, they were, like, talking about their childhood or a funny story about how they loved dogs. I think they really ran with the idea of trying to reach out to someone in a way where they could entertain them and maybe bring a smile to their face."
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The letters started going out on Monday. Olsen said they had 150 letters, which they started collecting at the beginning of March.
Kathy Packard, executive director of Oaklawn Center on Aging, said they mobilized their partners, including Elite Home Health, The Clearspring, The Caring Place, and Home Instead, to distribute the letters.
"All of them are dealing with people that are actually at home, isolated from other people, and this is just another connection, another human connection, that they can make with their clients, and bring a little joy to their life," said Packard.
"Receiving the handwritten letters from friends of the library meant so much to me. It is really good to know that we are still remembered even if we can't get out and do the things we used to do," said a Home Instead client named Teresa in a comment emailed by Lee Kathryn Lackey, Home Instead director of marketing and community outreach.
Olsen said they would "definitely consider" doing something like this again.
"It was hard for us to set up the framework as, you know, 'writing letters to strangers' but maybe in the future we might try some type of pen pal program. Maybe open it up a little bit further for it to be more personal. Yeah, the possibilities are endless, really," she said. "We definitely want to connect people in the community and make a difference."