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Hi l think we will run the pen pals as a facility activity for all residents to participate sending a bulk number of letters. With information and other things the residents would like to share. The address of my facility is
MORRIE EVANS WING
BENALLA HEALTH
SAMARIA RD
BENALLA 3672
AUSTRALIA

We would love to do this with someone. How many people do you have that are interested in doing the pen pal system?

If I can get it approved from facility, I would love to pen pal from our Cherished Memories Unit. It is made up of residents suffering with Alzheimer's and dementia. We could share artwork with you, and I can transcript for them and reply. We would love to learn about your country and see some photos as we are in the United States and could share some of our beautiful country as well. Please let me know if you are interested. Thank you.

I wondered if anyone would like to start a pen pal group between my facility and yours. We are located in Australia in Victoria. So even if someone from Australia wants to do it let me know please

I am an Activities Director for an independent and assisted living facility on the coast of Maine. We would be interested in starting a pen pal program with a facility in another country perhaps...though not opposed to another state here in the US. Would love to chat with anyone else interested.
Thanks

Hi everyone I currently have a female resident in New Zealand that loves writing letters and doing drawings when she is not busy doing activites. She is very fond of Cliff Richard and would like to have a pen pal to correspond with. Please feel free to contact me on [email protected] if you have any residents that would benefit from a pen pal.

Hi Sarah,

I just tried to email you but it's bounced back. Are you still looking for a pen pal for your Gentleman resident?

I would love to hear from you.

Kind Regards
Lisa

Hello. I am the Senior Site Manager of the Catawissa Senior Center in Catawissa, PA. We have some members that would like to have pen pals and write to anyone from anywhere in the world. Our members range i age from 60 - 94 years old. My email is [email protected].
Thanks!

Hi Nadine,
We were asked to do the same. Are there any other homes in your community? if so the letters could be divided between homes to share the love. Your residents could respond to a few instead of many. I too am the only Activity staff in our building. We are pen pals with 45 students and all seniors independently write their own letter/cards/coloring pages to their assigned student usually twice per month, I assist 6 with their replies. I set a date and time for when the letters are completed and then the school picks them up to deliver to the students. This program works very well, with little coordination. The biggest hurdle is finding seniors who are interested in being a pen pal. other projects that also work are seasonal coloring pages or classroom art. I wish you luck!

Hello, I am the activity director of a 36 bed facility in New Brunswick, Canada. Some of my residents would love to have pen pals from around the world. I can be reached at [email protected] Thanks!

WE WOULD LIKE TO BE ADDED TO YALL'S PEN PAL PROGRAM MY EMAIL IS [email protected] THANK YALL

Hello I am looking to set up a pen pal service for my residents, I am an activities coordinator at a retirement extra care facility in the UK. I have residents aged 50-87. At Huntley Place we have residents that are very independent and some that need a lot of care needs. I think starting this now with the pandemic happening will bring back the community spirit and join different parts of the world together. I have some residents that would like individual pen pals and some of the residents that would be happy to send a group letter. If you are interested please contact me on [email protected]. We are happy for anywhere in the world or even in the UK.

Hello everyone!

We are a small community in Northern Ontario looking to see if any other organization would be interested in participating in a Pen Pall program with us! We were looking exchange maybe a box per (predetermined amount of time) with letters and maybe a few goodies/crafts/pictures.

Please let me know if anyone would be interested and we can go from there!

Looking forward to hearing from all of you.

Tannis Egan

Hi there
Yes most certainly we would have some clients that would love to be a pen pal. Please reach out to Bev Latour co Sam Central Program Adult Day Program 10 Pearl Street North Unit A
Hamilton Ontario Canada L8R 2Y8. Thank you in advance to all that participate its a great way to keep CONNECTED in the world! My email is [email protected] . Our client age ranges from 22 to 104 and everyone in between.

Hi my name is Isela and I am the ACTIVITY DIRECTOR in a long term care facility in San Antonio Texas i would really like to start a pen pal program so if anybody is interested in joining my group shoot me an email and we can get it going [email protected]

Hi I am also in WA Bunbury and looking get the pen pals going in my center
Any sugestions on how to approach the subject with residents, unfortunately there has been many changes in the facility over the past 2 years and the residents have become a bit hesitant to try new things. Ive just taken over as coordinator and trying to re establish the things that they used to love as well as some new ides

i am looking to start a pen pal program for my facility i am a brand new activity director and would like some ideas do not have an assistant at the time it is only myself

Hi everyone,
I was contemplating connecting with a local high school and requesting that they write letters that I could periodically "post" in our garden mail box as a reward for "popping out to check the mail".
Lots of high schools have Community programs for their year 9 students and struggle to find ideas. I realise its not a pen pal system but it is some sort of connection in a manner our elderly may understand.
Has anyone else managed a mail box? I would really appreciate any advice.
Thanks

I won't be able to do pen pal with school children right now, but I like the one big letter idea. I work for the city, so I should be able to get a P.O. for stamps. This is just taking longer than I like, but that's on me. I like to get things done faster than I should. It's good for me to slow down;)

I'm still working on this Pen Pal thing. I've been calling Activity Directors at nursing homes and assisted living facilities to see if there is an interest. There is, but I'm also stuck on mode of transportation. I also can't figure out how to connect the people with each other. Most are not internet savvy or have smart phones. My research so far shows others doing this are connecting on fb or instagram. I feel stuck:( I believe I will be able to get funding for stamps tho:)

Hi Jan from Oklahoma. I was wondering what your mode of transportation for letters? I want to start a pen pal group, but I know many of the folks I serve would not be able to afford stamps. I was thinking of doing a pick up drop off. We would start off local. Just curious on all thoughts of this.

Rebeca Carver
Smoky Mountain Health & Rehabilitation Center
1349 Crabtree Road
Waynesville, NC 28785
We are in the US also and would love to join the pen pal group!
Rebecca Carver, Activity Director
[email protected]

Hi! Does your facility allow pets? We have had employees (my Activities Coordinator) bring her dog in and do room visits with her to those residents who don't really come out for any of the programs. The residents really seemed to enjoy the pet visit. Pre COVID we had Pets on Wheels come in and do visits, but they didn't go to individual room.

Would any of the loners be interested in a pen pal program? We did one before that went really well. Or would any of them be interested in a service type project? Putting together care packages/writing notes for service workers?

Good luck! :)

Hello everyone...I was hoping this is still going on. I'm Activity Director in Houston, TX. USA. We would love to set up a Pen Pal Program and build wonderful relationships abroad so that we can skype during our Arm Chair Travel activity. Please let me know if you're interested. We can set up a zoom call.

Hi All,

My name is Kathy and I am one of the Living well team memebers.

Lithgow Aged care are hoping to find pen pals from across the globe. We have about 76 residents and are about to open our new facility with 36 new residents.

We are situated in Lithgow Blue Mountains area and about an hours drive from Sydney Australia.

We would love to hear from you and hope to find pen pals for the residents to comunicate with.

My email is [email protected].

Hoping to hear from someone .

Regards,

kathy york.

A new activity has been posted by a Golden Carers member: Pen Pals.

Thanks Natalie, I am going to try the library in a town near here and see what they have.
It turned out that one of my ladies met her late husband through a pen pal scheme.
Another lady remembered going to the post office every week to collect some money 'without that trip to the post office I would have not been able to feed my children' she recalled.
They all recalled lessons at school where they were taught the format of a letter etc.
We spoke about writing to a family member and telling them we were expecting a new baby, then I gave them a parcel to open that contained a new babies knitted jacket, bootees, bonnet and mittens. It was quite an emotional but enjoyable session.

Hello,

We are always looking for some more pen pal groups. We are located at:

Adult Day Program
St. Joseph’s Hospital
1176 Nicholson RD
Estevan, SK
S4A 0H3
Canada

Currently are closed with the pandemic but feel free to send us a letter and we will for sure write back when we open. I started this with a few other care homes and my clients love reading and writing letters back!

Hi everyone I just joined. Is it too late to get in on the pen pals group? I am a director of therapeutic recreation in New Britain CT. I think some of my residents would love to be involved with this especially from some place far away... Australia and England would be a great idea. My email is. [email protected]
Thanks

Pen pal we have been in touch with other care homes and schools and residents have been writing letters to them. We have also been doing a raffle where the outside community has donated easter eggs where we will raffle them off to residents and staff.

Good Afternoon All
Interventions we have had
Hallway Bingo through the PA system
Hallway sing a long and gentle music
Activity Books
Borrow Trolley with an assortment of books, dvds, cds , jigsaws etc to borrow
Ice Cream Trolley
Shopping Trolley
Happy Hour Trolley
Pen pal writing system with our volunteers that cant come in anymore
Pen pal writing system with sister sites
Video chats with families
Increase in one on ones
Exercises are being held in open spaces out in garden etc

Hi, I am the Social Coordinator at Siena Village, a senior residence in Wayne New Jersey. I absolutely love the idea of pen pals please add me to your list. [email protected]

Thanks Jean,
looking forward to some photos and tips to brighten up our residents days. I have already seen the impact this is having on some of our residents and it’s heartbreaking. Now more than ever we need to step up and be there for them. I’m Looking forward to seeing everyone’s new ideas.

I’m putting together display folders for each resident with pictures of their loved ones, events they have attended, things they have been doing & more.
We already have a Pen Pal program with our local school, which continued today (letters were dropped off) but with the closures this may need to pause. So in light of that I will be implementing a regular mail service between family members and residents. This will hopefully stimulate their minds, promote happiness and keep families connected. These can be simple cards or letters either way they will be staying connected to loved ones.
I will be looking into setting up a Skype account to help with face to face communication (from a distance).

As most of our external services have been postponed I have contacted contacted local parishes and some are going online. Which will hopefully provide the religious connection.
So this may be something happening in your area.
We will be implementing smaller groups with different stations.

Looking at any suggestions ❤️

Live smart and stay safe.

Hi. I am an Activity Coordinator in Ohio. Our Long term care/rehab facility has been wanting to partner up with another facility for a Pen Pal program. This was an idea we explored before the isolation for COVID-19 began. We are a large facility so partnering up with more than one facility is certainly an option. If you are interested please Email me at [email protected]. I have enjoyed reading this forum and appreciate the ideas and hard work that so many people are doing to enrich the lives of their residents and staff during this difficult time.
Thank you and God Bless!

We are in the US and would love to join the pen pal group! We are a Personal Care home of Approx. 90 seniors.

My email is: [email protected]

My name is Becky and I am the Activity Coordinator for a LTC/rehab facility in Findlay Ohio. Our facility consists of 136 beds and about 36 of those are rehab. One of our neighborhoods is very interested in a pen pal program. My email address is [email protected].
Our address is:
Birchaven Village
15100 Birchaven Ln.
Findlay, Ohio 45840
c/o Becky Adams ADC

Pen Pals
Hello fellow members. I have a resident who loves to write letters looking for someone to write to and who can reply to his letters. He written letters to all the staff and has exhausted his avenues. He has early some cognitive decline and is living here with his wife who has a Diagnosis of Dementia. I hoping other members may have someone similar who would like to correspond with my client. If you have anyone of interest, can you please contact me via email at: [email protected]
look forward to your replies
regards
Sarah

Hi There!
My name is Nicole and I am the Program Coordinator for an Adult Day Centre at Hospice in Fredericton, New Brunswick in Canada. Is there anyone out there that would be our clients pen pal? Our clients are 55-95 and most have dementia. They would love to have this oppurtunity. Please send me an email if you are interested [email protected]

Hi! I just came across this forum. It sounds like a great idea! I have 3 Residents(at this time) that's interested in Pen Pals! my email... it's a looong one...ha ha!..
[email protected]

Hi all,

Does anyone else work in a hospital? I work in a large acute hospital in London. Most patients are here for a short time (days, weeks) with some here for months awaiting a care home. I thought it may be nice if anyone else works in a hospital with patients in awaiting a placement to start a pen pal service? It may just be a couple of patients at a time who would be interested. I wondered if it would be something we could continue when the patient goes to the care home. This would be a source of continuity particuarly for patients without loved ones.

If anyone is interested please let me know.

Thank you, Katie

I work at an assisted accomodation lodge in a small town in Qld and I would like to help residents connect with a pen pal group. We tried this last year with another organisation in Scotland but it didn’t last the distance. We would be happy to write to a group in Australia or another country. Please reply if interested. Carolyn

Hi Lorraine my residents would love pen pals from Australia, one of the residents have a son who lives there.

I would love to connect a group of the seniors at our community with another community. I am the Recreation Manager at Juniper Springs Senior Living in Redmond Oregon. I know I have a group of residents that would love to do this. Please contact me if you have an interest in setting up a Pen Pal exchange with our residents and your residents: [email protected]

Hi I am a Activities co-ordinator in the UK my residents would love to have pen pals over in Australia

Hi I am Nicole from Australia we are introducing a pen pal group in my aged care facility and I have one care recipient who would love to write to an overseas person, my email is
[email protected]
Can we have your address so we can send you a letter

Hiya Lorraine! My residents find writing very difficult, but I'd like to be part of the pen pals idea, because I can help them, if they tell me their thoughts and I can write them. Also it would be good to read to them. Lorraine, I've made a note of your email address, mine is [email protected]. I am based in London, England and they would love to hear from residents just like them from all over the world. Susan, thanks for the link. I'll follow it right away..

Hi everyone,
I am a Diversional Therapist working at a aging in place residential facility in Cheltenham Victoria Australia. I'm trying to start up a pen pal club with a few of my residents, possibly sending pictures, news events, what we do and have at our facility etc.
If anyone is interested maybe we could start of slowly eg. one resident each and see how it goes.
My email address is [email protected] or speak to me through this link.
Thanking you
Sharon:-)

Hi There!

My name is Nicole and I am an activity coordinator in Canada New Brunswick! I would like to start a pen pal group! I work at Hospice at the Adult Day centre! Its a program that clients come for the day and gives respite to the caregivers. Please send me an email! [email protected]

Hi..I am lifestyle coordinator in new facility, would love to implement pen pal Program..email is [email protected].

Thank you everyone for your response. I will get back to you when I have some interest from our residents. I love the idea of a pen pal group between us all. The interest from all DTs has been great

Yes pls! I would love to be a member of a pen pal club! I am based in Clevedon, Uk. I was talking about it with a resident a couple of days ago. Shall I have your adresses? Our is Osborne House, 16 Bay Road BS21 7BN Clevedon UK, you can adress your letters to Osborne residents and team.
Thanks to whom will write to us. Looking forward to receive your letters!

Maybe we can all exchange addresss and have a global pen pal network? With photos of our locale? That would be fun and informative!

Hi. Lorraine
I am an Activity Director in Texas. I would like to start a pen pal club at our nursing home. My email address is [email protected]. Thanks

Hi Lorraine, I'm from South Jersey, USA... I'm an activity aide at a 3 story rehab/long term care facility. I'm with the cognitive residents once a week doing a "Getting to Know You" club. For our summer "vacation " we are virtual traveling to a different country of each members choosing. Two folks did choose Australia! I'm sure my group would love to pen pal! Let me know if you're interested, if so I will give you my email, from there we can exchange addresses... Leslie Laurito

Hi my name is Lorraine and I'm an activities officer in an age care facility in QLD Australia. I would love to know if anyone is interested in starting up pen pals? Our residents love writing letters and I think it would be great, especially the residents who don't enjoy joining in activities. I would love to hear from you if you would be interested in starting this activity. Thank you in advance.

What a fun idea!
I am a Life Enrichment Director in Westland Michigan.
If you are still interested in pen pals you can email me at [email protected]

Hi,
I am the Director of a Community Respite Day Program called SALT (Senior Adults Living Triumphantly). Our participants really enjoyed receiving and sending Christmas cards this year. I know they would love to have long distant pen pals!! Most of our participants are in the early stages of the disease and still enjoy reading and writing. Please include us as pen pals! Our email is [email protected] and our physical address is:
SALT
c/o Demopolis First United Methodist Church
200 East Decatur St
Demopolis, AL 36732

Thanks!
Bambi Hamilton

I have a resident in particular who is looking for a pen pal. We live in St. Paul Mn. She is alert and oriented x3. My email is [email protected]

Hi we are a home in England .our residents would love to share our stories, and become pen pal homes

This sounds wonderful Faith! Im in the U.K. and have 38 loving, and wonderful individuals who i love to bits and they love people and i think the would love pen pals!
Great. Im in!

I have a Senior Center in Sand Lake, MI. I would like to see if any of my people would like a pen pal. Our next meeting is Friday, January 25th, 2019. Would this work?

Hi Courtney, I am interested in assisting you to organise pen pals with our community palliative care Hospice guests. I am the activities coordinator for Anam Cara Geelong (Australia) and currently run Day Hospice respite activities 3 days per week with 8 attendees per day. Have also had an idea for those people who find hand written letters too difficult. Corresponding by email could work within a group environment, if we linked participants to a buddy. We would happily share photos of our guests and activities so it would be more visual and interesting to all participants. Would love to hear back from you

Hi Courtney, while I'm not currently in a Care Home to share, the interest in Pen Pal's always seems to be very popular and fun way to connect here on Golden Carers, and love that you reached out!

Hello ALL.

I am located in the United States, in Chicago, IL, and am a consultant to nursing home activity departments. I was talking to the administrator in one of my communities and we were discussing the idea of a "pen pal" opportunity for the residents. I immediately thought of golden carers and how cool it would be to develop a relationship with a community in another country.

i suppose the first question would be ... is there any interest? is there a community out there outside of the United States that might be interested in making a connection with a long term care community in the United States?

I look forward to hearing from any of you who might want to discuss what i am hoping could develop into something really cool.

Looking forward to a reply...Courtney Castillo, CTRS

would love to be a pen pal [email protected] also answered in the forum thanks Julie.
Melbourne Victoria Australia This is my personal email till I get permission to use Care homes address ..

Not sure if this is the correct area to post this, but we just started a Pen Pal group and would LOVE to hear from people all over the world. You can write us at:

Kettle Moraine Gardens Assisted Living

Attn: Activities

1038 Fond du Lac Ave

Kewaskum, Wisconsin, USA 53040

I PROMISE we'll reply!

Thanks!

A new activity has been posted by a Golden Carers member: Pen Pal Group

Hi Luiza,
We are a small assisted living facility in Kewaskum, Wisconsin, USA. We just started a pen pall group and have had 3 replies. We'd love to add you to the group. You can mail us at:
Kettle Moraine Gardens
Attn: Activities
1038 Fond du Lac Ave
Kewaskum, Wisconsin, USA 53040

Hello.I am an activity coordinator in small town Skibbereen,Ireland.I have about 7 residents who would like to participate in Pen Pal Activity.Anyone would be interested?

Hi Michelle

Do you have an email address?
I am in the the North East of England working with a Charity to support older people in the community.
I would be very interested in setting up a pen pal group with you.
[email protected]

I run a facility for people with dementia. Pen pals is something I think my residents would love!

Please contact me so we can get started!
[email protected]

Hello all! I'm activity director in a small facility in Kansas. We are about 75% psych residents and the rest long term care, so we have a lot of diversity of age and backgrounds here. Some of our residents are interested in a pen pal exchange.

Attn: Michelle Worthington
Protection Valley Manor
P.O. Box 448
600 S Broadway
Protection, KS 67127

Hello all
I work in the north of England with a charity for older people doing community activities to reduce isolation and would be very interested in setting up a pen pal group with folk from any other country.
If anyone is interested please let me know. Like many others I would need to check with management before we can make a draft plan but I guess I am just testing the water to see if anyone would be interested?
My email address is [email protected]
Thanks

Can we jpin pen pal club too?i am activity coordinator in a small residential care centre in Skibbereen,Ireland.We gave 50 residents.I would say about 10 of them would love to do that.

Hi Jemma and Jane, was wondering if we could write to your residents, and set up a pen pal group. Maybe each residents could write about their interests and experiences. Pull names from a hat as to who they can be penpals with? What do you think? From Sandy at Sarah Claydon, Milton NSW, Australia.

Hallo I am a social worker from the island Crete in Greece and Iam an activity Co-ordinator for two separete units of 110 eledrly .I start discoussing with another unit in Athens the possibility of a pen pal program.Do you have any ideas how to start,or what it might help?

Hi lisa what is your email address is like to contact you regarding the pen pals for our residents... we are in Australia
Thanks

I'm in Johnstown Pennsylvania USA this is a fantastic idea. My e-mail is [email protected] , please contact me. I'm not sure if you would like to get residents involved, but I believe i may have a few that would be interested in a pen pal. I'd love to share ideas with you as well.

I'm from Canada working at two retirement residence. We would love to participate in the pen pal program with you or anyone.
[email protected]

Hi Lucienne, I just got this membership on Golden Carers and saw this post. I am in Indianapolis Indiana and would be interested in teaming up with you to start a pen pal program. If you don't have another group already, message me at [email protected]

Hi Lydia, there is a very active pen pal group on our Facebook Group - maybe you could give that a try! https://www.facebook.com/groups/ActivitiesForSeniors/

Hi, I know its been a while since anyone has commented on this but if anyone could help me it would be greatly appreciated. I am a activities coordinator from the UK and I am looking for a pen pal for a resident.

HI there is there no more interest in the pen pal group??? I have a few clients that would like to do this, as stated before I am in Australia. if anyone would like to this with us please send me an email
lifestyle coordinator
[email protected]
look forward to hearing from someone soon

Hi there definitely interested in the pen pal group.i work in a 107 unit community aged care facility.im looking for 3 different locations around the world im in Australia. Anyone can email me with address details and clients name to post to
[email protected] or
[email protected]. look forward to starting a pen pal relationship.

What a wonderful idea! I work in a 101 bed facility in Toowoomba QLD.
my email is [email protected] if anyone from in another country or even in Australia would like to start a pen pal/ email relationship.
Thanks

This sounds really exciting. I just got nine computers donated and we are planning to start a senior computer literacy program. Participating in this pen pal program could be a wonderful way to launch our senior computer program. Could you kindly send me the details as well? I would like to discuss it with management and staff.

Hi Karin,
We would also be interested in starting a pen pal/email relationship with your seniors facility. I would also have to check with work /boss. If interested, could you please send details.
Thanks

Hi everyone!

I am an activity convener in Alberta, Canada and I am interested in starting a pen pal/ email relationship with a seniors facility in a different country. Ideally I think Australia would be great as I could tie in an arm chair travel session to Australia. I have about 70 residents, higher functioning. Would anyone be interested?

HI Kat,
I work in a facility in BC and would love to have a pen pal facility for our Residents! I will shoot an email of to you.

Leona

hi I work in a care home my role is an activity's co-ordinator for dementia I am just wondering if there is a link for me to be able to start becoming pen pals with other care homes thankyou

Hi Solange, I am currently working as an AO/DT in a NSW facility and I am very interested in signing up for the postcard exchange program you are trying to get up and running. I feel it would be good for my Dementia Residents to have pen Pals from other states and this sounds a great way to do it. Pauline

Love to give kerry my email so our low care facility can send them a post card and exchange. I have a pen pal in south Australia another Village and it's great. Please give her my email address so we can exchange addresses and ill send a post card and a picture of us writing on it Thanks