98.1 The Hawk Letters of Love

98.1 The Hawk is collecting "Letters of Love" for people in our community. If you'd like to submit a Letter of Love, the form is at the bottom of this article.

What are Letters of Love?  They're letters of love and encouragement for those in our community who could use a little happy in their life. Everything you need to know about Letters of Love and how to participate are below, but if you have any other questions, please feel free to shoot an email to me at Traci@981thehawk.com or Traci.Taylor@TownSquareMedia.com.

Premises:

Letters of Love are letters of encouragement, hope and love written by people in the community to lift the spirits of neighbors in need of a pick-me-up.  Letters can be long or short.  There are only three rules for Letters of Love.

1. Letters may not include negative or sad writing. Any letters received that include either will be destroyed.
2. Those who write Letters of Love may not include anything more personal than their name in their Letter of Love.  We simply want the person receiving the letter to know that a stranger is thinking of them and loves them.
3. Letters of Love must be handwritten- not typed out (with the exception of online letters, which I'll get to in a bit).

Who receives letters of love?

Complete strangers in the Greater Binghamton community.  Nominations will not be accepted for Letters of Love.  The idea is to spread love to the unknown in our community.  The people receiving the letters will be people who are in hospice facing the last days of their lives, nursing home residents who are alone and other places like Danielle’s House where people can stay and receive shelter and emotional support while their sick loved one is receiving care in area Binghamton hospitals.

How did Letters of Love start?

My Dad was diagnosed with one of the rarest forms of cancer, Myelofibrosis last year and some of my friends asked if they could write Letters of Love to my Mom to let her know that even though they didn’t know her, she was loved and thought of while she took on the burden of being caregiver, wife and mother. Glenn and I thought it’d be nice for our community to show love to those down and out by writing letters of love and encouragement.

How are letters received?

Letters may be submitted the following ways:

• Online at 981thehawk.com
• By mail to the radio station in Attention of: Letters of Love
• In person at the radio station

Writers can include tokens or pictures drawn by kids etc. with their letters, but envelopes may not be sealed unless they are being mailed to the radio station.

All letters will be reviewed before being delivered.

Letters that are typed or received through 981thehawk.com will be rewritten by hand by me and my helpers.

Each time we get a nice stack of letters, Glenn and I will  divide them up and visit various hospice centers, nursing homes, shelters and such for the people in charge to distribute to those they think most need a “Letter of Love.”

Other notes:

Letters of Love will begin to be accepted through an online form here at 981thehawk.com and at our radio station at 59 Court Street in Binghamton until further notice.

Names of those receiving letters will never be given out. This is a completely blind effort to take a little time out of our day to spread love to someone in our community who is a complete stranger to us. The only people who know who receive the letters are the staff at the various drop off locations who hand them out to those who need a little love.

Sample Letter of Love (in case you need a little help getting started):

Hello,

I heard that you were recently diagnosed with a bunch of no-thank-you-I-don't-need-that-right-now type of things and I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know you but I've been close to people like you who’ve had to endure the hardest things imaginable when diagnosed with cancer and treated to fight it. I just want to tell you that it is worth trying your hardest to find joy in the middle of all this.

Please remember that even at the worst points of our lives there is something beautiful to hang on to, something nice. I wish you lots of love in your everyday life; I wish your struggle is short.  Be strong, my thoughts are with you.

With love, Traci