Unlikely pen pals link in pandemic
MANSFIELD — In a world nearly halted by COVID-19, Brooke Young has created 84 sets of new friends who never would have been introduced had the pandemic never reached North Central Ohio.
“It was an amazing experience,” she said. “I think it’s so important for people to connect with one another.”
It all started in mid-july when the Miss Heart of Ohio 2020-2021 winner was talking to one of her friends about how isolating the disease has been for so many of the region’s senior citizens, especially those confined to nursing homes.
“I’ve always had a soft spot for the elderly,” Young said. “And I have always been extremely passionate about different generations interacting with one another.”
The 19-year-old Mansfield native realized she had a unique opportunity to blend her passions of service and creativity to help ease the suffering caused by that isolation.
The only problem was making sure she didn’t accidentally help the spread of the virus.
Something safe and special
“I wanted to do something that would be safe, but would still be very special to them,” Young said.
Another stipulation was that she wanted the seniors to have something tangible from the experience that they could keep forever to remind them of the experience.
“Almost like a gift,” she said. Young will be a senior this fall at Ashland University — her major is business administration with a double minor in broadcasting and marketing.
When she was younger, she trained a therapy dog that she donated to Oak Grove Manor, a nursing home in Mansfield.
She decided to see if Oak Grove residents might be interested in receiving cards and letters from a few of her friends from the Miss Ohio class of 2020. They didn’t hesitate to agree.
The next step was taking the idea to the ladies in the pageant. They loved the prospect.
“I had an overwhelming response from them,” Young said.
Needed more volunteers
Suddenly she had more women writers than residents at Oak Grove Manor, so she reached out to another nursing home that was eager to accept letters.
“Then there were too many residents, so I needed more women,” Young said.
To fill the new void, she reached out to ladies on the Ashland University’s cheer and dance team, who were onboard without question.
“Once again there were way too many women,” Young said. “I had this problem back and forth.”
Within just a few days, she had paired 84 young women with 84 senior citizens from seven different nursing facilities: Oak Grove Manor, Dayspring Assisted Living, The Good Shepherd, Waterford at Mansfield, Brethren Care Village, Lutheran Village in Ashland and Wedgewood Estates.
In addition to the writers from pageant and the cheer team, Young enlisted volunteers from the Ashland University women’s basketball team, Delight Ministries at the university as well as several of her friends from throughout the years.
Once the first round of letters were written, Young needed to collect them for distribution.
“I asked everyone to please either mail them to my home directly or email them to me so that I could print and package them,” Young said.
Letters sit four days
To ensure the novel coronavirus was not spread, she let them sit for four days before delivering them to the facilities.
She also made sure she delivered them all at once.
“I wanted everyone to have their letter on the same day,” Young said. “I didn’t want anyone to get left out.”
To prevent potential spread of the virus, Young did not go inside.
Since every young lady included their return address, the residents have been writing back to them. Most of them are now pen pals.
“It’s so encouraging and rewarding to know that,” Young said.
The letters have been well-received, according to Terry Mcquillen, director of life enrichment at LSS The Good Shepherd Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Campus in Ashland.
Residents save the letters and cards and cherish them for a long time.
“They share them with families during phone visits and talk amongst themselves about them,” Mcquillen said. “They share with staff and they do look forward to the next one. They think of their pen pals as family, and the pen pal will begin to get very close to the resident.”
The project has been good for seniors and the young ladies alike. In fact, it added a spark to an otherwise dreary cheer season, according to Denise Farnsworth, the team’s head stunt coach.
“Exactly what we needed”
The team normally completes about 400 hours of community service every year. But concern over the spread of the novel coronavirus has made those hours hard to discover. Then Young presented them with her project.
“This opportunity was exactly what we needed,” Farnsworth said.
The ladies have been writing to their pen pals from home over the summer, and their coach suspects that will continue for quite some time.
“We like to think of volunteering as a two-way street providing benefits to both our team and those whom we serve,” Farnsworth said. “It would be great if we were able to build on these relationships for years to come and at some point have our teams meet their pen pals in person.”
Not all of those who wrote letters were in college. Cassandra Kurek, of Bucyrus, is only 14. She will be a freshman this fall at Wynford High School. She’s been friends with Young for several years.
“She’s basically like a sister to me,” Kurek said.
When she heard about her friend’s project, she happily agreed to accept a pen pal. Young assigned her to a woman named Judy.
“I wrote her a letter telling her a little bit about myself and some of the things I like to do,” Kurek said.
Included a small craft
She wrote the letter by hand. The thoughtful teenager also made a small craft that Judy could hang in her room. She’s eager to receive a letter back from her new friend.
“While they get to know us, we get to learn about them at the same time,” Kurek said. “It’s definitely very exciting. I had a lot of fun writing it. I can’t wait to write a lot more letters with her.”
As for Young, she’s ecstatic that so many people were eager to partake in her project to brighten a summer that would have otherwise been gloomy.
“They very generously and very graciously donated their time to brighten the residents’ days,” Young said. “I’m immensely grateful for their help, because without it none of this would have been possible.”