Fairleigh Dickinson University and Sunrise Senior Living Center

Margaret H., a Fairleigh Dickinson University volunteer, journals about what she wrote in her #MyDearFriend letter and how she’s looking forward to find out her pen pal!

Just last week our club got in touch with Sunrise Senior Living Center about alternative activities that our seniors would enjoy participating in! Jessie, the coordinator let us know that the seniors would enjoy having a pen pal! So on Friday October 16th, our members did a digital meeting where we wrote cards for 30 minutes. Those of us who were not able to meet at the scheduled time wrote cards individually and sent them in to the nursing home. 

In my letter, I informed them that I have been experimenting with baking and cooking during my recent free time and asked the resident what they have been doing in their free time. I asked how they have been and explained to them that currently, our school is fully online and hope to get back into a classroom soon. I also told them that I’m looking forward to seeing them and give manicures again! I know that the residents at the senior living center really appreciate our presence, but we all equally enjoy theirs! It's been really hard not to see their excited faces like we used to! 

I did also suggest to the rest of the club that after we establish our individual pen pals, it may be a good idea to contact the nursing home and ask the coordinator if they have the technology available for us to meet our pen pals and see them face to face! We agreed that we would write letters every 2 weeks taking into consideration the time it takes time for our letters to get to them in the mail, for them to respond, and the time it takes for them to get back to us. But, it would be really nice if we could have calls with our pen pals during the weeks where we are not writing letters! I’m really excited to find out who my pen pal is!