By Heart of Illinois ABC
NORMAL – A group of residents at The Loft Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Normal are filled with joy and letters after a post on Facebook asked for pen pals.
Since then, the post has been shared over a thousand times.
They have received over 300 cards and letters — even from people out-of-state and the country.
“Oh my gosh … that’s what I said! I didn’t think I’d get that many.” said resident Yvonne Casali, “I like to color, I like to do art things, and I just thought I would enjoy it.”
“I just wanted to have some people to talk to and write to.” said resident Linden O’Neal “They’ve come from all different types of towns and even different countries.”
“They are just enjoying this pen pal program so much.” said Kindra Vonbehren, Director of Business Development for the Loft Rehabilitation and Nursing of Normal. “We’re trying to figure out how to thank the mail man because he’s having to bring in big totes of mail every day.”
“I wanted to write back to them right away because I like people.” said resident Debbie Ruiz
“I’m just so happy they have that connection not only with adults in the community but even young children are writing our residents letters.” said Vonbehren, “It just makes us feel like we’re making a difference and it just reiterates the fact that our community is just awesome and these residents regardless of what’s going on in the world right now they feel so loved and they love getting that mail everyday.”
If you want to send them a letter or card you can address the envelope as follows:
Resident Name
The Loft of Normal
510 Broadway
Normal IL 61761
Heart of Illinois ABC can be reached at [email protected].
