The Next Level Church in Peterborough is spreading a bit of cheer through a letter-writing campaign, encouraging its parishioners to break out the stationary to write old-fashioned hand-penned letters to teachers, hospital workers, first responders, and others who have been heavily impacted by the coronavirus.
So far? They’ve committed to penning about 16,000.
Next Level has ten locations across New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Florida, including in Peterborough and Keene. Peterborough’s location pastor, Kenny Laughters, said Next Level has reached out to local organizations to ask if their workers would like letters – to near unanimous interest.
Jenna Narkum, 31, of Hancock, just finished a batch of 35 unique letters to send to teachers at schools in Antrim – and while she joked that her hand feels broken, she said it’s a way she can show her support, and also remember the things she’s writing in encouragement are true for her, too.
She said she knew she wanted to participate, when she first heard abut the opportunity.
“You never know when someone could use some love, especially right now,” Narkum said. “And everyone has a story about when they were impacted by some small act of love or kindness.”
Narkum said she tried to make each letter unique, digging out her thesaurus and going through old journals for quotes she’s found inspiring over the years, while expressing similar sentiments: That this situation is temporary, that she’s sorry that teachers didn’t have the opportunity for an in-person send off for their students, and that even if nothing is normal right now, they still have an amazing impact on their students lives.
She said organizing her thoughts for a hand-written note has helped her keep positive, too.
“I think anyone would feel better, trying to bring love to the world,” she said.
If you would like to join in on the Next Level Letters of Hope campaign, you can find out more and sign up to participate at www.nextlevel.church/letters. After signing up, one of the coordinators of the campaign will reach out with an address as to who and where to send the letters, as well as some examples, if desired.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She can be reached on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.