Seniors living in senior living facilities are having a tough time right now. To ensure their continued safety, most facilities are locked down. That means that residents can't have their usual visitors. Although technology bridges the gap to an extent, these seniors can get lonely. One facility decided to do something about that.
On June 24, Victorian Senior Care staff took to Facebook in search of some pen pals for their residents. "We hate that we are not able to have our normal visitors due to COVID-19 restrictions, so we at Phoenix Assisted Care would like to pass the time by writing our pen pals!" they wrote. The post included photos of each of the seniors looking for a pen pal.
The beautiful idea took off instantly. It wasn't long before more seniors at that location and others wanted to create a poster and find themselves pen pals. Now these seniors have thousands of letters heading their way.
Victorian Senior Care is one of the many companies that have found themselves in a difficult spot due to COVID-19. The company runs a number of senior care facilities. The facilities were locked down to ensure resident safety, but without their usual visitors, many residents are feeling lonely.
Staff came up with a plan to help heal that loneliness. They put out a call for help on Facebook.
"We hate that we are not able to have our normal visitors due to COVID-19 restrictions, so we at Phoenix Assisted Care would like to pass the time by writing our pen pals!
"Send a letter to the address listed below with my name as the recipient. Can't wait to hear from you! #VSCPenPals."
The first call for pen pals went so well that more seniors became interested. They posted some more people looking for pen pals the next day. Residents held posters explaining what they were looking for from a pen pal, from a love of the Bible to a shared hometown.
A day after that second call, they posted a whole bunch of them! Seniors from Brookstone Haven of Randleman, The Village of Kinston, Red Springs Assisted Living, and more all wanted to get in on the letter-writing fun. The posts quickly began going viral, each amassing thousands of shares.
The first group of residents who were shared started getting letters and packages just two days after the post. The residents were flattered by how many people chose to reach out to them. In many ways, it provided the sense of community they'd missed during the lockdown.
As the days went on, the mail hauls started getting even bigger. It was clear that a lot of people were working hard to make sure these seniors felt remembered and loved. Victorian Senior Care shared a video of one woman, Ms. Linda, reacting to receiving her letters. She thanked all of her pen pals for writing to her.
"It is a happy Mail Day at Phoenix!! We sure are thrilled to hear from our new pen pals," they shared another day.
"A special thank you to Pamela for sending envelopes and paper for us to write our new friends back. Ms.Lenora received flowers all the way from Australia today! We even had some help from our local Boy Scouts to help us go through and organize our mail."
In another video shared of them handing out mail, you can see the seniors have grown excited for that time of day. The influx of letters gives them new things to do, things to think about, and ways to pass their time. It's such a simple gesture, but it can mean so much.
On June 30, they shared an update regarding the whole pen pal program.
"First of all, we want to thank everyone that has been involved in our #VSCPenPals. We are overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support not just from our own state or country but from all around the world! ," they wrote.
"Our residents are truly the reason we do what we do and seeing the excitement and smiles on their faces make our day. We are trying our best to answer all messages and reply to comments and wanted to do a little follow up to some frequently asked questions."
"We are still receiving mail from everyone, if there is a resident that has not received anything after this first round we will post their picture again so everyone will be aware. At this time we are asking that you pick a resident you would like to write to. If you are having trouble deciding you are more than welcome to write your letter and send to our main office," they said. They provided this address:
4270 Heath Dairy Road
Randleman, NC 27317
Attn: VSCPenPals
"We will match your letter based on the needs of each community and resident. Please be patient with return letters from our residents, each community is working diligently to get those back to you all," they concluded.
"Again, thank you so much. It is so great to see all the love from around the world our residents have received.❤️."
"It looks like all these beautiful people are going to get a lot of awesome mail," wrote one commenter.
"If you want to spread the love, I suggest you look up your local care homes and see if you can write some of the seniors in need of love in your own area. Let's spread the love."
Since Victorian Senior Care's post, it seems Laurel Health Care Company has joined in calling for pen pals for its senior residents.
"Our guests at The Laurels of Pender are looking for pen pals! These amazing seniors have a wide range of interests and would love to share stories with new friends."
Mount Carmel Senior Living has also put out a call: "Our residents are doing well, smiling during the pandemic, missing their families and sending their love. We are always trying to find ways during these hard times to keep lines of communication between our residents and their loved ones❤️. P.S. you may send or be a pen pal with any resident even if their picture is not posted. Thank you for your support and love."
With so many seniors out there looking for someone to talk to, finding a pen pal should be a breeze. It's an easy way to put a smile on someone else's face and your own.
