WIMBERLEY — In an age where handwritten letters are a novelty of the past, Wimberley ISD second graders are forming intergenerational relationships through a pen pal program with those that need it most — older adults residing at Deer Creek Nursing and Rehab.
The idea sparked when Deer Creek Director of Rehab Reagan Bow’s own daughter formed a friendship with a resident after spending so much time at the facility: “When she was in pre-K[indergarten], she got dropped off every afternoon after school at Deer Creek, just waiting for me to be done with work, and she became really close with one of the residents, to the point where she would get off the bus and she would run to the resident’s room; she wouldn’t even come see me first. I would go into the resident’s room and she had [my daughter’s] things that she had made at school hanging in her room … They had just become best little friends.”
Deer Creek resident Bob Pennington embraces his pen pal, Adia Cheshire. Prior to his arrival, Adia was bouncing with anticipation. After the two met, they shared a laugh at their matching outfits.
This friendship halted when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, forcing the interactions between the two to end, as her daughter was no longer allowed inside. Searching for ways to continue their conversations, they began sending each other letters.
Seeing how much joy it brought the resident, along with the emergence of daycares inside nursing homes, Bow took the two ideas and worked with Diana Spangenberg, a former WISD teacher, to create a pen pal program in the 2023-24 school year.
Spangenberg’s mother resided at the facility, so she took her knowledge of the residents and of her students to pair them up together, to ensure that there were common interests.
This year, following Spangenberg’s retirement, Blue Hole Primary School (BHP) second grade teacher Debi King took over the program.
The pen pals are currently made up of one class, along with volunteers who wanted to participate from Deer Creek.
According to Bow, King had her students fill out a questionnaire with basic likes, family information and more to aid their pairing process. For example, if a student had six brothers and sisters, Bow paired them up with a resident who had 12 brothers and sisters, as they could relate to having large families.
Though the pairs were created at the beginning of the school year, the letters didn’t begin until the spring semester, as King described the lessons that the students had to learn prior: “One of the benefits is learning how to write a letter, [such as] putting the heading, the greeting, put the body, all those kind of things, but we’re [also] practicing sentence structure, complete sentences and then, putting it in a letter format.”
Each time they begin to write a letter, students can pull out a folder with several greetings, closers and sentence starters to aid in writing a response, whether that be asking their own question or answering one given to them.
Alongside the letters are often art pieces created by the students, explained King.
“We’ve given them a valentine card. We created some little art pieces, [like] we did a butterfly last week, so that, if they aren’t able to get out of the facility, they know that Butterfly Day is going on in Wimberley and just kind of reaching out to them,” described the teacher.
The letters are then sent off with a messenger — Bow’s son, who attends BHP, as well — to be delivered to the Deer Creek residents.
Brenda Guest laughs at a joke from her pen pal Nicholas Villanueva.
“They were so alone for so long that I thought this is such a great way to bring the community back to them. We used to have so many different events … all those things were canceled for several years during [COVID-19], so it’s just a really nice way to bring the community back to the long-term care facility, where, sometimes, these people get forgotten,” expressed Bow.
Once the letters arrive at Deer Creek, staff aids those participating with reading and writing, if needed, a response to their younger counterparts. In a recent letter, residents were prompted with Easter traditions, so they asked the students what they were planning to do, while sharing their own memories and experiences.
“When the little boy brings in the envelopes, [the students] all recognize him and they all just get so excited; they can’t wait to see what their pen pal has to say. So, we just pretty much stop and take a few minutes and pass out the letters,” King said. “It’s just so fun to see their faces just light up to get that letter.”
For the first time in the school year, the pen pals met face-to-face May 2, as King’s class traveled to Deer Creek, which both Bow and King were excited for. The children prepared a song to sing for the pen pals and delivered their final letter in person. There, many families and residents decided to exchange information to continue to communicate in the future, which is exactly what resident Meg Grant and student Alyssa Tedrick planned to do.
It was Grant’s first time participating in the program: “I loved it. It was really sweet. We had a lot of fun communicating back and forth.”
Resident Kimberley Hoevelman was excited to meet her pen pal, even bringing a gift of a Snoopy stuffed animal for her, to which she received flowers back.
Meg Grant, right, views an art piece made by her pen pal Alyssa Tedrick May 2. Despite Grant leaving Deer Creek Nursing and Rehab, she made the trip back down to exchange information with Tedrick to continue sending letters over the summer.
“We have some of the pen pals from last year that keep in touch, like we’ll get letters in the mail that they put in their own mailbox and sent over. One lady, her pen pal comes back on Mother’s Day and brought her family and brought her flowers,” recalled Bow. “Some of [the residents] have families that come visit all the time and some of them don’t have any family or they don’t have anybody that’s close by to come visit them, so it’s just somebody that becomes like a friend to them.”
Both Bow and King hope to keep the program going long in the future, with the class rotating each year.
“It’s an honor for me to be able to be the teacher to get this group of students to actually understand the process of an old fashioned way of relating to other people; that’s gone to the wayside. So, it’s an honor for me to be able to incorporate that and to teach the students how important it is to reach out to someone in your community and just spread them all friendship and kindness to them and for them to see that kindness come back to them in full circle,” concluded King.
