At its most recent meeting, the University of Iowa Letters of Love chapter hosted over 600 students working to combat patients’ feelings of isolation by writing heartfelt messages. Three hundred of the students were first-years, a significant increase from the 25 to 30 students per meeting seen in previous years.
Letters of Love is a nonprofit organization providing emotional support for patients in children’s hospitals across the world by creating and writing cards. The UI chapter of Letters of Love was established in 2022 and is one of 284 active chapters
across the country, according to the club’s website.
Letters of Love meets once a month, writing cards filled with encouragement, love, and support. When the club first began, its membership was much smaller than it is today.
“It used to be amazing if we could fill up the third row [of the auditorium we meet in], which is roughly 20 to 30 people,” Hailey Gojkovich, UI second-year and vice president of marketing for the organization, said. “At our first meeting of this school year, we had over 600 people come, and we filled up the entire auditorium.”
Gojkovich said the growth in numbers is crucial for the club’s success.
“Getting to see the growth that way and getting to spread the word, especially to incoming first-years, has been awesome,” Gojkovich said.
For first-years, the club has been a way to build connections at their school and give back to the community. During its first meeting of the year, first-years and returning members alike wrote upwards of 2,000 cards for patients.
“I saw a bunch of people come together to make these cards, and I thought it was really special,” Reena Photopoulos, UI first-year and member of the organization, said. “Everyone was really taking their time and thinking about what they were writing.”
Colorful markers and stacks of paper line the tables as students brainstorm cheerful messages and doodle bright designs. After meetings, the cards get boxed up and sent to hospitals around the world, including the local UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. In total, Letters of Love has produced 425,000 cards at the national level and sent cards to over 18 countries, according to its website.
“Knowing someone is going to see this and it will hopefully make their day a little better is so special,” Photopoulos said.
For participants like Photopoulos, the impact goes both ways. While the cards are sent out to bring joy, the process itself creates a strong sense of community among those making them.
“It made me feel good helping someone, and it is so inspiring to see people here making a difference,” Photopoulos said.
When Elizabeth Hernandez set foot on the UI campus for the first time, the thought of becoming a club president felt almost impossible.
The campus was large and intimidating, and Hernandez was on the hunt for ways to get involved at Iowa. This was when Letters of Love first came into her life, setting the stage for a transformation that would shape her college experience.
“Letters of Love became a space for me to become unapologetically myself and a place for me to really explore who I am as a person,”
Hernandez said.
“One of my goals for every single person in the club is to get comfortable telling someone they love them,” Hernandez said. “The ‘why’ that we have for this organization is to write more letters and spread more love.”