By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone in some way, but seniors residing in area assisted living centers, cut off from loved ones for months, have arguably been the most affected.
While working in an area assisted living center Courtney Molleker, 21-year-old Hays native, saw first-hand how small things like receiving a letter can make a huge difference for seniors. After putting the idea out on Facebook earlier this month, a full-fledged letter writing campaign has begun, with a first set of letters set to be delivered soon.
“This simple act of love and kindness will surely bring a smile to their faces,” Molleker said. “Please join me in having a passion for kindness by sending some letters of love.”
Molleker said she was surprised by the immediate response to the idea and is hopeful it will spur relationships between the letter writers and the recipients.
"The response so far has been great," Molleker said. "People are being so nice about it and seem like they’re excited to write to the residents."
To facilitate the deliveries and spread the word, a Facebook page was set up last week and generated 100 members on the first day alone.
The group "Letters of Love: A Passion for Kindness" can be found by clicking here.
As relationships develop between the letter writers and the seniors, she hopes that personal messages back and forth can become the norm, but at this point, she said the letters will be generalized.
And as the campaign continues Molleker is hopeful that letters can be addressed to specific residents soon, but is working out the details on how that can work.
In the meantime, the more letters collected for the campaign the better, she said.
"I would love it so much if I could collect as many as possible to take to them as there are still restrictions in the facilities not allowing visitors,” she said.
Any type of letter will work she said, handwritten or typed, but she said handwritten letters will feel more personal.
It's not just letters, pictures from area children are also being included in the campaign.
"I have a daycare also having their kids do little coloring activities to send over as well," Molleker said. "It’s been going well so far. I seem to have people from multiple age groups contributing, young children, teens, college students, and others beyond that."
Recognizing the value in the campaign, Caden Frank, Fort Hays State University's Sigma Chi recruitment chairman and Hays High assistant boys’ soccer coach, brought the idea to his fraternity and the team.
The fraternity plans to write letters on Monday and hopes to work with the soccer team to write letters sometime next week.
“The population that she is writing to is a forgotten population sometimes,” Frank said. “Hopefully, we get some responses and get a conversation going between the two.”
Stepping up and creating relationships in the community is a large part of the Sigma Chi mission, he said, so this campaign is a way to do that during the limited in-person contact created during the pandemic.
Sigma Chi has always focused on creating lifelong friendships and this is a way to help foster that mission, he said.
“Being leaders in the community, we want to be the ones at the forefront of creating change and starting social service projects,” Frank said.
He also said they want to set a good example for other student groups and hopes others will take up writing even more letters.
For more about the project, or to connect with Molleker to deliver a letter visit the facebook page.
Letters can also be dropped off at the Heritage Eatery & Bingo during open hours, 114 E. 12th St., Hays.
"This is an extremely important project to me, and I’d love for the community to help me out in bringing some smiles to their faces," Molleker said.