Sending love at Christmas
The simple gesture of sending a Christmas card could help tackle ‘‘the single biggest issue facing older people today’’.
It all started when Auckland woman Hannah Rodgers and her son, Jayden, committed to 100 days of kindness in the lead-up to Christmas last year.
‘‘On day 65, Jayden suggested we write a card for someone who might feel lonely at Christmas,’’ Rodgers said. It snowballed. Communities got involved and more than
32,000 ‘‘messages of love’’ made it into rest homes around the country.
Now Rodgers and her son want the campaign, Sending Love, to help 100,000 Kiwis as it returns for its second year.
Places like St Peter’s Anglican Church Hall in Upper Riccarton have been transformed into craft havens for the efforts.
Angela Meiritz-Reid has been making cards for about 19 years and is a demonstrator for Stampin’ Up – an American organisation that connects people through crafts. ‘‘It’s sounds really corny, but it’s like being a part of a family,’’ she said.
She has put her experience to good use at St Peters by helping people create eyecatching Christmas cards to be delivered anonymously through Sending Love.
‘‘It’s so sad that some people don’t receive any mail at Christmas,’’ Meiritz-Reid said.
Age Concern Canterbury chief executive Simon Templeton said a recent study showed
21 per cent of people over the age of 65 were lonely. ‘‘If you asked me what the biggest issue facing older people today was, loneliness would be the plain and simple answer. There are a lot out in the community but, even in residential care where you might think ‘well, there’s a room full of people’, people are lonely.’’
Older people valued Christmas card writing and receiving more than their younger counterparts, so many would feel the ‘‘depth and level of connection’’ in receiving them, he said.
That was why the St Peters team wanted anyone opening a card to feel the amount of love that was put into it.
‘‘You know the joy of getting mail that’s not a bill,’’ Maria Henderson, another cardmaker, said. ‘‘Part of that is not just getting a card, but getting something that’s handmade and handwritten.’’
Janet Holder, who has been a part of Stampin’ Up for five years, said making the cards was about ‘‘looking outside yourself’’. ‘‘It’s just saying somebody cares.’’
Tips for writing the cards range from leaving the envelope unsealed to making sure it is ‘‘filled with love’’.
Cards will be delivered through Meals on Wheels, homeless shelters, women’s refuges, RSAs, hospitals and rest homes. Anyone wishing to send a card can find a drop box on the ground floor of Press House, 158 Gloucester St, or search for the closest spot to them on the Sending Love website.