In 2011, I started a project (read all the details here) to bring back the dying art of sending postcards, cards, and letters through the mail in order to…
1) Spread joy and good cheer, and
2) Support the Postal Service, which is facing a deficit and default which we can help ease with every postcard, letter, and package we mail.
During October, the first month of The Postcard Project, I awarded prizes to the participants each week. For November and December of 2011, I organized a worldwide cookie swap and 162 dozen cookies were mailed as a result. February of 2012 was Operation Postcard for Beverly, and then we had the second annual cookie swap in December with a total of 216 dozen cookies were mailed. Demand for more than one swap a year was high after the second cookie swap, so we had the “Sweetest Swap” in February, exchanging homemade candies, and now we are looking forward to “Cookies in July.”
In the meantime, please join the effort of reviving “snail mail” and try to think of someone you know who might appreciate a letter. Once you start sending them, you will start to receive personal mail in your own mailbox too, and that is a great feeling.
Update: I just found out about Foodie Penpals, which is the perfect way for us foodies to support the postal service. Through it, you are linked to another participating foodie (you don’t have to be a blogger!) in your country and you mail them goodies. Another foodie gets your name and sends you goodies. I love it! Please click the link to find out more and sign up!!
Ideas for who to send mail to:
Family & friends, obviously. :)
The elderly. Especially if widowed or single, they are often very lonely and a letter would go a long way in lifting their spirits.
Young adults that have left home to go to college. A note from home would mean a lot to them!
Your children’s teachers and coaches. Coaches tend to get more complaints from parents than love, so I’m sure some appreciate would do them good!
A soldier. (Click the link to get an actual address for a soldier if you don’t know any personally.)
Your doctor, dentist, chiropractor, etc.
Become a Chemo Angel and send letters, cards, and/or packages to a person fighting cancer to lift their spirits. How cool is that?
Join Post Crossing to send and receive post cards from around the world!
Help raise money to feed cats and dogs by sending postcards to The Pet Postcard Project.
Sponsor a hungry child and correspond to him/her regularly.
If you have an idea for sending cards, postcards, letters, or care packages, or would like to drop me a personal note, send an email to vraklis@yahoo.com. I would gladly include the address of your soldier on this page if you would like to share it!
Veronica's Cornucopia 
I know I was supposed to do this BY 10/14, but we will be out of town for a bit starting on the 13th. And we have been at the Post Office for several days this week and last week. Trust me; y’all get business from this corner of the world!
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Great to hear, Donna! Keep it up–you are a blessing to everyone!
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Veronica, I am happy to join the POSTCARD PROJECT!! I LOVE to send ‘snail mail’! I make my own greeting cards (Hallmark Card Studio software) which I decorate with ribbon, sparkles, punch outs, stampings, etc. I also LOVE U.S. postage stamps, even to the point of choosing the correct stamp for the recipient or the occassion. I order my stamps off of the internet so I can have a wide variety of stamps other than what my local post office offers – (birthday stamps can be ordered or your favorite Hollywood star). I order my Christmas Stamps this month and the amount of stamps that I THINK I will need for the coming year (Stamps for my regular mailings plus my Christmas card stamps will be an order of over200 stamps. What fun to order so many beautiful stamps – stamps to commemoratethe pioneers of American industrial design; Pixar Animation Studio; Black Heritage; cultural events; saving vanishing species; Owney, the Postal Dog, the icon of American postal lore; flags of our nation; Merchant Marines; Go Green 9 (recycling); Animal Resue; Mercury Project and Messenger Mission; Indianapolis 500, Mother Teresa; Scouting; Fund the Cure for Cancer; Wedding Roses; Garden of Love; and many more. When you sign up for stamp delivery you can opt to receive a quarterly magazine, the USA Philatelic, which gives so much info on each stamp -the date of issue ordered, the artist of the stamp, and where the first day of issue will be held. Each order, no matter how many stamps or other items offered will cost only $1.00 for shipping/handling. October is a busy birthday month for me to be sending cards – sent four birthday cards out this morning. I spent my morning designing Halloween, birthday, and get well cards that I will be embellishing this evening. I can remember as a youngster anxiously waiting for our rural mail carrier to stop at our mail box. In fact our days activities were planned around the mail man stopping!! We would wait until the mail was delivered before we would start a chore or leave the house on errands. Each family member would be so happy to receive mail – Teen Magazine for my sister and me, Field and Stream for my brother, Farm Journal for Dad, and if Mother was lucky a long letter from one of her 12 family members! Mail delivery was an exciting moment for this farm family.
I feel honored to be able to help with the Post Card Project – sending handwritten personal mail is an art that is being quickly forgotten.
Wilma Hardesty-Jerrell
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Thank you so much for joining me! I’m honored to have you, as you care about this just as much as I do! I just got myself some of the Owney stamps and enjoyed reading about him on the back of the sheet! I’d never heard of him before but now I have to Google him. That is so cool. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Wilma!
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I guess it pays to read each story very closely!! I missed that the person who sends the most cards would get a gift, too! Yippe! Definitely Sweet Returns!! Halloween Cards go out this week – I have them all made, with notes written in each, stamped and ready to send. Last week I sent ananniversary card to Florida and it must have got a slow boat to China – it has not arrived at its destination yet! Again, thank you for your POSTCARD PROJECT – I have enjoyed it so much and good luck to all the entrants – everyone would LOVE to have a nibble of your Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chio Cookies!
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This has been a great week to participate in the Postcard Project! There were days to celebrate and send ‘thinking of you cards’ – Thank You Day (10/24/11); World Hello Day (10/25/11); Halloween (10/31/11) with a spattering of birthdays to commemorate.
I received my order of USP Stamps! The Christmas stamps are beautiful – Holiday Baubles, four beautiful Christmas tree ornaments. The Christmas stamp from previous years are still available – Madonna of the Candelabra by Raphael, Holiday Evergreens, Angel with a Lute.
I think all the stamps I received are beautiful, especially Garden of Love (10 designs), Mark Twaine (1 design), Pioneers of American Industrial Design (12 designs) Helen Hayes (1 design), The Cival War (2 designs), Go Green (16 designs), and Owney the Postal Dog (one design), and Indianapolis 500 (one design). I believe I have my supply of stamps for 2012!
Thank you for extending an invitation to participate in the Postcard Project – it has been fun.
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This is a really cool idea Veronica!
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Better yet, I have a friend who makes hand made cards for all occasions and will custom make cards too. Here is his link on Etsy.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/81560632/1-handmade-halloween-cards?utm_source=OpenGraph&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share
(I think you’ll have to cut and paste)
Happy shopping!
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I got my first batch of cookies today! So fun, thanks for arranging this!
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Hi, I just found your site when I was looking for a brownie recipe, and I had a couple of ideas for people to send mail to: 1) young adults you know who are away at college, especially if their school is far away from where they live. It can be hard to move far away, especially if you don’t know anyone (I did this: I moved from CA to OK for college!), and a letter from their old home will remind them that the people there still love and remember them. 2) Your children’s teachers, coaches, etc. I’ve heard that coaches are very under-appreciated and receive a lot of complaints from parents, so they would welcome a positive letter for a change! I also liked that you mentioned sending messages to soldiers. There are several websites available to help with this. Good Luck & God bless you!
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Wonderful ideas, thank you so much!!!
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Great idea for all of us fabric postcard artists! Check some of them out at
http://community.webshots.com/user/wraez
The holidays will be upon us fast, and nice to make those holiday PCs.
warm quilt hugs, sue in CA
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Wow, I’ve never seen or heard of fabric post cards before but they look really neat! How do you make them? I suppose I should Google it. Very cool.
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I send about 10 post cards a month to friends, even many of them internationally! I love sending things by postal service. There is nothing like getting a surprise post card, letter or package in the mail. Thank you for your efforts too! I would love to do this next time you do it!
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Thanks for supporting the postal service-I know your friends must really enjoy those postcards. This project is ongoing, and right now you can sign up for the cookie swap if you like to bake, or foodie penpals is another good one. Links are above. :)
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This has genuinely sparked up an idea in my mind. This can be a superb weblog article
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