Photo: (More Love Letters)
The first time I did it, I'm pretty sure I was in the DC airport. But it could've also been that time I had a few minutes to kill when I was in Dunkin Donuts that one day.
Where were you the first time you wrote a love letter to someone you've never met?
This is the type of question, I imagine, Hannah Brencher wants you to be able to answer. You see, Hannah first whipped out a pen and paper on the subway more than two years ago; shortly after that, The World Needs More Love Letters was born. What inspired her to write a letter to a stranger? She was feeling depressed after graduating college. "I was trying hard to fit into a world that had boiled me & all I was feeling into 140-characters," she explains on her site. So to boost her mood, she decided to lift other people's spirits up by leaving letters in coat pockets and cafes.
If you think a movement about the handwritten love letter would be a little slow on the social media uptake, you'd be wrong -- at least in this case. The cause already has its trademarks for success: a viral letter, a kick-ass Pinterest account, a team of superstar social media interns – and NBD, a TED talk.
If you, like many, stumble wide-eyed over to the site any time this week, you'll see Hannah and co. are knee-deep in the second-annual 12 Days of Love Letter Writing campaign. If you follow along on Facebook or Twitter, you'll receive daily requests, until tomorrow, December 14, of who needs your support the most this holiday season. Even if you can't write a card by tomorrow you can still get involved and sent a letter to another lovely stranger.
This weekend Hannah asked fans of the movement to pull out their prettiest stationery for the members of the Rockaway community who were facing tough times in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. A day later, as date would have it, The Daily Beast put out a call for letters for one Rockaway resident in particular, 87-year-old Patsy Roberts. When Sandy hit, she lost thousands of letters that she saved through the years.
Already designing your own stationery in your head or digging through your bag for your favorite ink pen? You're not alone. The World Needs More Love Letters, although a fledgling organization, has an active following all over the world. Some people write in and send photos of letters they've found, while others request love letter bundles for their loved ones.
If you want to join the movement, you can send a letter to Hannah's Rockaway bundle to the address below:
Rockaways Bundle
PO Box 2061
North Haven, CT 06473
I want to know -– how would you address a letter to a stranger? Does The World Needs More Love Letters make you want to splurge and spend half your paycheck at Papyrus? Send us a tweet and let us know if you're taking part in Hannah's 12 Days of Love Letter Writing campaign.
