Sending love through the letterbox to ease lockdown
loneliness

As care homes continue to remain closed to
visitors under Alert Level 3 and 4, Bupa is calling for
Kiwis to pick up their pens and crayons and write a letter
or draw a picture for residents.

“Keeping connected and
maintaining relationships are important to everyone’s
health and wellbeing but even more so for older New
Zealanders during lockdowns,” says Carolyn Cooper,
managing director, Bupa.

Across the country, care homes
are providing extra activities and video calling
capabilities to keep residents connected with friends and
families. But at Bupa we would love to provide residents
with the extra joy that comes from receiving mail and so are
calling for friends and whānau to get in touch via the
post. For our residents without family we would love the
public to send correspondence to their local care
home.

“Receiving and sending letters is a really
positive thing that anyone can do. From my conversations
with residents I know how much joy it brings them. This is a
generation where people often communicated by writing and
while it’s not something the younger generations do,
it’s undisputed that whenever any of us receive a letter
or card in the mail it makes us feel very special,” says
Carolyn.

For Dorothy Retter from Bupa Hillsborough Care
Home, it’s always a thrill to open a letter, to see who
it’s from and what news they bring her.

“Whether
it’s family or friends it’s always quite exciting when a
letter appears on my table. I think it’s really important
that we keep on writing letters. I write letters myself
because I think that people who are sick or who are lonely
just love getting them and I get a lot of comments from
people that I write to.”

Letters and cards have the
added bonus of not being reliant on people’s ability to
use technology, such as email or social media, like
Facebook. It is also an easier mode of communication for the
significant number of people (1 in 3) who suffer from
hearing loss as they get older.

Bupa resident, June
Ryan, finds letters to be a helpful way to stay in
touch.

“I love receiving mail, particular from friends
as they keep me up to date with what’s going on. It’s
all very well to have a phone call but you can put the phone
down and lo and behold you think of something you haven’t
told them, but in a letter it is much easier then
talking.”

“What is more, I feel that handwriting these
days is something that’s been lost. And I think its lovely
to have a look at everybody’s handwriting at times.
Because it’s one way of expressing our feelings, in the
way that we write,” adds June.

Vitolia Tauai adds that
she mainly receives letters from her children,
grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. “I look forward to it
as they tell me what they’re doing and how they’re
going. It’s really important to me to receive these
letters to see how they are…in this time of
COVID-19.”

Carolyn also suggests that people send
residents photos or pictures.

“Without doubt, all our
residents love receiving photo updates or pictures. It helps
people connect with what’s happening in the world,
especially what’s happening with younger generations in
the family,” says Carolyn.

“Not only do you get the
initial enjoyment of receiving photos or pictures, but they
can then be hung up in people’s rooms and shown around to
their fellow residents, starting conversations.”

With
all the kids at home at the moment, this is also a good
excuse to get them involved and entertained. There are
several creative ways they can share what they are up to
with the older members of their family:

Create a lockdown
day-in-the-life cartoon
Collages / pictures of their
favourite lockdown activity
Even an update on what they
have learned this week, book they have read or TV show they
are watching

The full list of care homes and their
address can be found on our website here. Either address
letters to a specific resident or put c/o Lockdown Letterbox
at the top. Our care home managers will then distribute your
letters or drawings to our residents in most need of
connection.

© Scoop Media

 

The UNC Heel-Gram club, founded in response to the pandemic, sends pen pal letters and personalized letters to individuals with disabilities in the hospital.

The club was created by seniors Catie Bobetich and MacKenzie Maddox to help connect the UNC students to hospitalized people with disabilities. 

Maddox has an extended family member who regularly received letters from his community over quarantine. In seeing how much he enjoyed them, she was inspired to bring that dynamic to UNC.

Members are assigned pen pals, and each letter is tailored to the interests of the recipient. Some letters are also themed around different holidays and seasons throughout the year.

Reagan Fleeher, the current social media chair and business administration major, said she has enjoyed getting to know her pen pal.

“My pen pal and I have exchanged at least 15 letters throughout this semester,” she said. “She’s a big fan of romance novels and always updates me on what she’s reading.”

And the club is on the rise. Heel-Gram currently has 52 members, with 17 more already signed up to join next semester. The club is also working with several organizations around North Carolina, including EasterSeals, Special Olympics, Camp Royall and Gigi’s Playhouse, to connect with people across the state.

Neuroscience major McKenna Griffin is Heel-Gram’s continuous improvement chair and said she works closely with these organizations. She also said she does a lot of research on people with disabilities and how to interact with them in a way that’s beneficial for all parties. 

Fleeher said there are certain benefits of sending physical letters as opposed to digital messages.

“Letter writing has become almost obsolete as a form of communication,” she said. “But I think there is something so exciting about anticipating a response and having it physically show up in your mailbox one day.”

Maddox said letter writing is a great break from the world of constant social media and provides real connection in a digital age. 

“Writing and receiving the letters has been therapeutic for our volunteer letter writers, especially since it provides a break from schoolwork,” she said. “It’s just as rewarding for me as those with whom we communicate.”

The club plans to expand its operations once the pandemic is over. There are plans to host more in-person activities, such as working with community basketball teams for people with disabilities.

Current members highly encourage joining the club. Bobetich said there are real benefits to communicating with people in need of connection. 

“Personally, receiving a letter back from my pen pal was very exciting,” she said. “(It) afforded an opportunity to dialogue with someone who might not have many outlets to meet new people and exchange ideas, hopes, fears and topics of importance to them.”

Prospective members can message Heel-Gram’s Instagram account @heelgramunc to sign up for the fall semester.

univeristy@dailytarheel.com

MASON, Ohio —

Many people dealt with hardship and stress during the height of the pandemic.

It prompted a Mason family to start a business called BoxFull, aimed at sending love and hugs to people across the country.

“A very close friend of mine, her mom passed away from COVID right before Christmas,” Jennifer Barcenas said. “Flowers just felt kind of empty, not sincere enough, and we sent flowers, but just thinking, ‘what else can we do?’ and I would’ve loved to just give her a hug.”

From that thought, sparked an idea for Barcenas.

Sending a bear in her place, arms wide open, for a warm embrace.

“She responded so strongly to it and that’s when I started thinking, surely there are other people who would like to send a similar sentiment and maybe this is something we could do,” Barcenas said.

Shortly after, BoxFull was born.

Barcenas has sold nearly 600 of them since December.

Hugs have been sent around the country to our veterans, for birthdays, to celebrate PRIDE and college graduations.

After Mason fourth-grader JJ Day passed away in January, hitting the community hard, Barcenas decided to make special stuffed animals for the Love Like JJ 5k.

Each letter, each smile means in the world, to everyone involved.

A memorable gesture when words aren’t enough.

“It feels like it’s a really small gesture, like it’s a hug in a box, but when you get the emails back or the pictures where someone is crying, to know you were a little part in connecting those two people, who aren’t close by in that way, is incredibly rewarding,” Barcenas said.