I rarely ever do this, but I’m cutting and pasting an email pitch I received because this idea is just so lovely and because it is written so well. There’s nothing to be gained by me re-engineering the following message. So here it is, an idea for us as families to write letters of hope and inspiration to women who have just begun battling breast cancer.
Can you remember the last time you wrote someone a letter?
Girls Love Mail, a Northern California based national nonprofit that collects hand-written letters of encouragement and gets them to women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, wants people to revisit the lost art of letter writing and support their Miles of Mail campaign to reach 26,000 letters received by the end of 2016. With World Cancer Day around the corner (February 4), Girls Love Mail is calling for men, women and children to stop texting and start handwriting! It’s also a great opportunity for individuals and families who are looking for affordable ways to give back throughout the year.
Girls Love Mail was founded in 2011 by Folsom, California resident Gina L. Mulligan, a breast cancer survivor. While undergoing treatment, Gina received more than 200 cards and letters from friends, family and people she’d never met. They provided inspiration and strength during a time of solitude and struggle. Today, Girls Love Mail has distributed more than 50,000 letters to women across the U.S.
“Girls Love Mail lets women know they’re not alone by giving them letters of encouragement when they are first diagnosed,” says Mulligan. “Letter writers of all ages and from across the country are joining us in this intimate act that provides so much comfort to these women. We provide help on the website about how to get started and what to say in your handwritten letter.”
Letters are read for appropriateness and distributed through cancer centers and special programs. Letters can be sent to:
Girls Love Mail
193 Blue Ravine Road, Suite 120
Folsom, California 95630
Please join my girls and I in crafted a few hand-written messages. Send them into Girls Love Mail today, on World Cancer Day, and/or anytime you and your kids have a free moment. This is an inexpensive way to make a different, to make the world a teensy bit brighter.
