Sign up to become a Letters Against Isolation volunteer and send seniors around the world handwritten letters filled with joy!
Hi! We are Shreya and Saffron. During the current Covid-19 crisis, we’ve been doing our best to support our self-isolating grandparents by calling them every day.
We realized that without visitors or the ability to interact with the wider world, many senior citizens may be growing lonely. Senior loneliness is a well-documented issue and has effects not only on seniors’ mental health but on their physical health. We believed that we could do something to help this situation. We decided to spread some joy and write handwritten letters to residents of assisted living facilities and care homes. When growing demand for letters outpaced us, we started Letters Against Isolation. Letters Against Isolation has since expanded to serve thousands of seniors in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and Israel.
If you decide to get involved, every other week, we will send you a spreadsheet where you can sign up to send letters to any of the care homes in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and Israel that we serve. You’ve got the fun job of writing as many letters as you would like to! You can write about whatever you would like, but remember that these letters will be brightening days; try to make them cheerful, and be creative! Do not include your address, phone number or anything else that would identify yourself and do not send gifts. We ask that all letters are sent in physical form (not via email) to the seniors, since there is something very special about receiving something in the mail! If you are in need of ideas, please feel free to check out our blog.
When you finish writing your letters, sign up on the spreadsheet to send your letters. Carefully copy the corresponding address onto your envelope(s), and mail your letters!
Co-Founder
Saffron Patel is an 11th grader at the Buckingham Browne and Nichols school in Cambridge. She loves STEM, photography, and is passionate about volunteering in her community.
Co-Founder
Shreya is a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis. She is interested in entrepreneurship and serving her community.
Meet our wonderful Volunteer-Coordinators: Alissa, Ellen, and Tim. They facilitate discussions at our Zoom parties, help us brainstorm for new ideas and ways to grow, and they answer some of your emails!
Letters Against Isolation has been written about in newspapers like The Washington Post and on online news platforms like The New York Times, featured on news channels like CBS 8, and shouted out on the podcast Wonderful.
