When Angela Lee moved to Life Care Center of Evergreen, she was lonely.
Until the day she received more than 700 letters.
“I could not understand why they were writing to an old lady, but apparently something caught their eye and they did,” Lee said. “I really enjoyed their letters.”
Lee received letters and postcards from all over the world. Letters from people in Japan, Africa, Brazil, China, Italy, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Poland flooded her mailbox.
“My favorite part, it's just that all these people are, it seems like we've met before. The way they write to me and express themselves,” Lee told CPR News. “It seems like we've met somewhere before, but yet I've never met most of them.”
One of Lee’s daughters signed her up for the program, Love For Our Elders, a nonprofit organization that aims to relieve loneliness among people living in care facilities.
Love For Our Elders was started in 2013 by Jacob Cramer after his grandpa passed away. He began volunteering at care facilities, and became upset by the “chronic loneliness" he saw.
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Jamie Gonzalez has been volunteering with the group for about two years as the director of communications and outreach. She said the program helps both the letter writer and recipient.
“People feel good about sitting down and writing a letter to an elder. These letters are to really just show kindness to them, show that they are remembered in this world, and they're not forgotten and they're not isolated. That people still love them,” Gonzalez said. “(The letters) show the kindness in the world that's out there, and sometimes this world can be kind of crazy and to remember that this kind of thing actually happens is incredible.”
Someone – like Lee’s daughter – can nominate an elder through a Google doc submission. Gonzalez then coordinates with whoever sent the submission. A submission requires a biography of the person who was nominated.
Lee’s bio included that she enjoys UFOs and watching the History Channel.
“They started sending me sketches of UFOs and stuff like that,” Lee said. “That was kind of funny. Some of the sketches were really good and some were very comical, but I enjoyed them all.
Lee has developed close relationships with a handful of people who sent her letters, like a young girl from Wyoming who decks out her letters with stickers, and a woman named Kat who travels by train.
“She tells me all the time about trips that she takes and she says, ‘You are with me on the trips.’” Lee said.
She told CPR News that these letters have helped keep her busy throughout her day. Her favorites come from young people.
“It just surprises me that they write to an old person and they want to find out why I've lived so long,” Lee said. “I don't know. All I can do is tell them what I think, and I really don't know why I've lived this long, but it's good.”
| This story is a part of Aging Matters, a series from Colorado Matters about the Centennial State's aging population. Read more stories here. |
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