Even the smallest of actions can brighten someone’s day or even change their life.
During this time of the semester, while we all get swept up in our overflowing Google calendars, pack our weekends full of future memories and just try to get through the day on three hours of sleep, it becomes so easy to forget that the little things we do can impact others greatly.
In high school, I got involved with a group of high school clubs known as Letters of Love. These clubs organized meetings for high school students to get together and make cards for hospitalized or seriously-ill kids.
Grace Berbig started the first ever Letters of Love club back in 2018. When Grace was ten, her mom tragically lost her battle with cancer. Out of this tragedy sprang the inspiration for Letters of Love and a determination to bring more kindness into the world.
While her mom was hospitalized, Grace and her sisters would bring handmade cards to decorate the dreary walls of their mom’s room. These small acts of kindness served as a reminder that while they weren’t always in the room with her, that they were always loving and rooting for her.
Now, only a few years after Grace started the first club, Letters of Love has become an official 501(c)(3) with 25 clubs and over 1,000 total members. To date, we have donated over 60,000 cards to our little heroes.
One of the things that makes me so proud to be a part of Letters of Love is the stories we hear from some families who have received these cards. Isak Hedeen was involved in a terrible accident that left him immobilized and recovering alone in a hospital room while visitors were restricted as a COVID precaution. Letters of Love led a campaign to collect cards for him. In total, we were able to gather over 200 cards. Isak said that he was feeling incredibly alone and these cards provided a reminder of the support he had from his community.
We frequently get messages from other families sharing similar stories, saying how some small letters from strangers were enough of a push to keep fighting amidst great pain and hardship. It’s a humbling reminder that we all have the power to make a difference in each other’s lives.
The moral of the story is that you truly can never know what your actions mean to others. If you write a card to a stranger, smile at that girl down the hall you don’t know that well or go out of your way to walk with someone, you just might make their day.
If you feel so inspired — or simply don’t want to do your calculus homework tonight — consider grabbing a piece of paper and some markers and making a card. You can send your cards to Letters of Love, PO Box 354, Long Lake, MN 55356. You might not know the kid who will get it, or exactly what they’re going through, but you can be sure it will mean a whole lot to them to know you’re in their corner.
Today I challenge you to write a note to a friend, text your mom or find some other way to let someone around you know how much they mean to you. It’s on all of us to create a kinder world, one card, one smile, one hello at a time.
You can contact Maggie at mklaers4@nd.edu
