We will be writing letters to residents at Academy Point at Mystic in Mystic, CT. This is the nursing home I work at and it was easiest to organize with them since I personally know the programs director (Heather) and I wanted to get this started ASAP. Academy Point is located about an hour away from Quinnipiac for reference! Due to HIPAA, the first letter must be written generally. Academy Point cannot give personal/identifying information about the residents out. However, once we send the first letter Heather will read them and distribute them to residents she thinks would enjoy and pen pal and match your interests! For the first letter please handwrite it if your handwriting is legible enough. You can write it on printer paper, lined paper, in a cute card, etc. If your handwriting isn't the best you can type it. Just handwriting is more personal, and the residents always appreciate a written note over a typed one! Things to write about/include in your first letter: • Start the letter with "Dear Friend" or "Hello!" --something that is welcoming and inviting • Introduce yourself! o name, age, major, where you go to college, hobbies, interests, about your family, favorite sports teams, career aspirations, favorite places to travel, hometown, fun fact, etc. The more you show your personality the better! • Optional--attach a small picture of yourself so the resident can pair the handwriting to a face! All the residents are super sweet and would appreciate this. • Ask them a few questions about themselves o ask about their family, if they have children or grandchildren (they LOVE talking about their grandchildren) , what their career was, if they have ever travelled, what their favorite TV shows are, if they have any hobbies, favorite sports teams, etc. o Many of the residents have military service in their (or their spouses) background at Academy Point since it is near the Naval Submarine Base in Groton so you can always ask them if they have any armed forces history! • End the letter with best wishes, sending positive thoughts, etc and let them know you are looking forward to their response! • If you are a good artist, write poems, etc feel free to include a drawing, poem, quote, etc. The more personal you make the letter the better! These residents have been in quarantine for several months at this point (due to a GI bug before COVID and then COVID) and will love this new connection! NOTE: If you have a preference for what kind of pen pal you would like (male/female, someone with grandkids, someone who likes reading, a veteran/military spouse, etc.) write it on a sticky note and stick it to your letter. Heather can do her best to accommodate those requests (but I can't guarantee it will be a perfect match!). Things to Avoid: • I would not date the letter, this first one especially. I am unsure how fast Heather will hand them out and I would hate for the residents to see the date and feel like they were making you wait, etc. Also, some of the residents, especially because of quarantine, are not oriented to time so this may confuse or upset them. • Avoid religion, politics, etc since you do not know the person the letter is going too. Logistics/expectations about this service project: • 1 letter = 1 service hour • I do not expect you to mail these letters using your own money. Hand them off to me and I will use the SVP budget to mail them! This will also be how I keep track of hours earned. • Write back timely if the resident responds (which I really really really hope they do). By timely I mean don't wait a month to respond-- try your best to have a week turn around! (Heck the more you write the more hours you get out of this) • Hopefully, this is something that can carry over into next semester and develop into a video chat opportunity with your pen pal in the future. (And if COVID magically disappears meeting them in person)