They call her "Saint Shirley." While her homemade chocolate chip cookies are a blessing to her appreciative and loving family, this gracious grandma has been offering a lot more than sweet desserts.
She’s been writing letters to men and women who are currently incarcerated all across the country.
Naturally, her grandson, Ben Lemmen, was curious about what had inspired her to do something so selfless — not to mention what, exactly, she was putting in those letters!
"I know I can't relate to them in everything… Some of them don't even know what an ordinary family life is," she says, stacks of countless written responses from her prison pen pals spread out across the table in front of her. "I try to tell them a little bit [about] that. I want to help them enjoy life."
While I won’t spoil the letter Shirley reads aloud, I will say that it’s truly a unique experience to hear about someone making such an incredible effort to do good. Like the grandson who filmed his grandma over the course of a year, the younger generation can stand to learn so much from the one that came before.
And grandmas are doing incredible things every day of the present, too! Remember the older woman who waved at the kids whenever the bus drove by?
"It's important to me because I want them to understand what the love of God is," Shirley continues while penning yet another letter. I’m so happy there are kind souls out there like her!
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Grandma – Letters to Prisoners from Ben Lemmen on Vimeo.
