Student ‘Letters of Love’ to be delivered to retirement homes

GUELPH – In an effort to bring joy to the community, Isabelle Peverley, a Grade 6 St. Michael Catholic School student, started a school wide letter writing campaign, ‘Letters of Love.’

The campaign will see letters written by students in all classes at St. Michael delivered to various retirement homes in Guelph.

“I wanted to do something for our community. I was feeling unfulfilled, so my mom and I started coming up with some ideas to help members of our community. My mom saw a link that said, ‘Letters of Love to our Elders’. Even though it was in the United States, we thought we could bring it to Guelph,” Isabelle states in a press release.

Isabelle took the concept to her Grade 6 teacher, Paul Tersigni, to see if it could be done through the  school.

“She came to me with the whole idea planned to a tee,” Tersigni said.

And  the letter-writing concept has taken off at school, with students both in and outside of her class becoming involved.

“Every student in our class wrote a letter and every other class in our school is participating. We have already received folders full of letters from many classes in our school,” said Tersigni. “We should have around 250 letters from our school when it is all said and done.”

Isabelle has been thrilled with the response.

“It was great! Everyone has been so happy and supportive with it,” said Isabelle.

“Classes in our school were very excited and that made me feel very good inside.”

Along with her mom, Isabelle will be delivering the letters to the two homes in Guelph on March 29, while Tersigni will be delivering to the third retirement home.

“I am so proud of Isabelle. This is such a great idea and I know these letters will bring a smile to many in Guelph,” Tersigni said.