Pen Pals
While scrolling through Facebook, I recently came across an interesting post from Victorian Senior Care. The retirement and assisted living facility, located in North Carolina, had posted photos of their residents holding white boards with the words “Will you be my pen pal?” written across the top. Below, the residents listed their names and some of their interests.
Some of my favorites included Eddie who likes crossword puzzles and astronauts, Diane who enjoys coloring and puzzles, Roberta, a former parole officer who loves murder mysteries and positivity journals, Linda who enjoys reading the newspaper and making new friends and Vickie who simply loves cats.
I couldn’t choose just one.
I immediately decided to write Vickie. Having a cat of my own that I love dearly, it felt right to send her a letter along with a few photos of Nami.
I also decided to write Linda. I ,too, enjoy reading the newspaper. After all, I spend a good portion of my time writing it. I sent her a letter and a few back copies of “The Post Dispatch” that I thought she might enjoy.
I’m still debating on writing Eddie. If you’ve read previous columns of mine, you know that I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. I constantly had my head in books about space and was always watching NASA’s International Space Station livestream. I think we could find some common ground in that.
Victorian Senior Care continues to post residents from nursing homes across North Carolina who are looking for pen pals. Every day I find another person to whom I want to write.
Victorian Senior Care also posts heartwarming videos and photos of the residents receiving their mail. It’s amazing to see how a handwritten letter can make someone’s day.
If you are looking for something to do while being cooped up at home, I highly recommend writing one of these residents or even a resident from our local nursing home.
So, grab a pen and a piece of paper and find a resident with whom you have something in common. If you are feeling giving, the care centers also accept large parcels. So, send them a care package including some of their favorite snacks or puzzle books.
Happy writing!
To be my pen pal, email me at [email protected].
Dear Miss Tanner,
My name is Tracy McAlister and I graduated from Post High School in 1977. Every since then, I have taken The Post Dispatch by mail wherever I have lived. I am so glad that you are from Post and know, pretty much, everyone in town.
I used to work for the Dispatch when I was a senior in PHS. Back then there was a school page full to my columns and other fun things with which I reported. I worked for Jim Cornish back then and I loved him. He was a great teacher on how to write news reports, columns and headlines. I hope you do as well as he did and are as beloved. My gripe with the paper is that when you have pictures of people (especially quite a few) there are no names under the pictures to correlate with who the people are. I have not lived in Post for 42 years, but I still have some classmates there along with a little bit of family and kids and grandkids of people I know. Please, please, please do this for me. It means so much to all of us that take the paper but live out of town.
Thank You,
Tracy McAlister
6008 86th Street
Lubbock, Texas 79424
(806) 781-6080
Tracy,
I’m excited to hear from you and cannot wait to go back in the archives and read some of your work. I would love to feature some of your past writings in my other column Yesteryear’s. I always try to feature people whose names I am aware of, so I will definitely be on the lookout for yours!
As for your feedback, I would be happy to do that for you! If you ever have any other suggestions please feel free to email me at [email protected]. We would love more of your feedback, especially since you are an out of town reader and we want to make the paper more accommodating to folks like you.
Thank you so much for your comment and for your continued loyalty to The Post Dispatch. I look forward to hearing more from you!
Kindest regards,
Elizabeth Tanner