Do you eagerly rush to your mailbox every day to welcome in a new pile of junk mail and bills? Probably not.
During the days of COVID-19, more and more of us have been using old school methods to communicate with our friends and loved ones. We’ve written longhand letters. We’ve sent care packages. We’ve dropped off treats at our neighbors or sent toilet paper to our friends.
Take action by writing postcards to your friends (or even strangers!) in your life!
As many of us know, the USPS has been under scrutiny in 2020. Many people depend on the postal service for core living necessities – veterans who receive their medication by mail, elders who receive all of their interactions through paper mail vs. electronically, folks living in rural communities (where other mail delivery companies don’t service). By sending a physical postcard, you help keep the USPS service in business – which impacts hundreds of thousands of peoples’ lives – and it helps uplift your friends at the same time.
Consider posting on social media that you’ll send anyone a postcard who inboxes you with their snail address. Then follow up and actually write and mail them a postcard!
The process of writing (especially if you remember how to write in cursive can be therapeutic for you, as well as the receiver of your gift. Your postcard can be as personal as you want it to be. Maybe you don’t know the folks who respond to your social media call. That’s ok. You can write something uplifting or even something mundane. The point is to write or draw something and put it in the mailbox for them to receive some love and care – and feel a bit connected to another person.
Your postcard can be as fancy or simple as you want it to be. Your investment can be as low as buying 100 4×6” index cards for under $1 or print-your-own Avery postcards. You can buy custom-made postcards from your favorite trans or progressive artists by scanning through Etsy or Redbubble (or trans folks you might know and want to support, such as MeanWhile…Letterpress who has rad handmade cards). If you are safely shopping in person, consider supporting local businesses in your area, like Anthology in Madison, WI.
No matter what type of card you use, you can jot a quick note about your appreciation of their friendship, something cool that happened in your life, an uplifting quote, or a doodle of your cat. You can use a simple pen, or use colorful Sharpies, or fancy calligraphy pens – whatever you have on hand and feels right to you. You can share what’s important to you buy adding postage stamps that are meaningful to you or the person you are sending the postcard to. (BTW, postage for a postcard is 35 cents.)
Enjoy making this kind of connection with people in your life – to add some warmth, care, and compassion in their lives.
#30DaysOfAction; #TDOR; #TDOR2020
P.S. Consider sending a postcard reminding someone that #GivingTuesday is on December 1.