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Do you have a nursing home in your community? Maybe someone who lives there is lonely. And you can help ease their loneliness! “Make someone happy, and you will be happy too!” is a line from an old song and it is so true.  When we reach out and write to a lonely person, not only will that person’s spirits be lifted, but our countenance will shine like the noon day sun. (Isiah 58:10).

You can bring joy to lonely person (anybody really, but especially those who are home bound) by writing a letter, a poem or drawing a picture and sending it along to the nursing home with the note, “Please pass along to someone who needs a bit of cheer.” A handwritten note is such a rare treat these days, and it’s something the older generation really appreciates.

Or, you could multiply the joy! Invite a group of people (perhaps your church group?) to participate in a letter writing project like our Wisdom of the Wounded team member Jennifer Miller did during the pandemic lockdown. (For more information on how to organize a letter writing campaign, see Jennifer’s post, Feeling Less Lonely During Lockdown.)

I participated in Jennifer’s project and wrote a letter to one of the residents at the Aurora Pond retirement community. I was delighted to receive a lovely, handwritten reply from a 96-year-old woman named Helen.* She wrote, “I have memories galore and would love to share.  Also, I’d like to know more about you.”  So, happily, for both of us, I have a new pen pal.

I hope you will write to a lonely person and you will find that it is true, “Make someone happy and you will be happy too.”

Are you unsure what to write? Consider the list of questions from our post, “Telling Life’s Stories.”

*Name changed to protect privacy