Lauren Martin Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness When 8-year-old Andy Bremner was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's

lymphoma in 1980, only one person seemed to cheer him up: the mailman. After his first stay at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Andy was deluged with cards from friends and relatives- 85 pieces of mail in all. But when the flow inevitably tapered off, Andy grew upset. His mother, Linda Bremner, could not stand to see the sorrow on the face of her terminally ill son when the mail came without a note or card from family or friends. So she secretly started to write him love letters and sent them through the mail. Linda, then a housekeeper, began mailing her son notes signed, "Your secret pal." At first, Andy could only guess at the source of his mail, which arrived daily during the remaining four years of his illness. But early in 1981, Linda found him drawing a picture of two unicorns. "It's for my secret pal," Andy explained. When Linda examined the drawing after Andy had gone to bed, her eyes filled with tears. "P.S. Mom," he had written, "I love you." He had known all along who was sending him the letters. But that didn't matter, what mattered was that they made him happy and lifted his spirits. After Andy's death, Linda made a touching discovery. Hidden in his closet was a Reebok shoe box stuffed with the letters she had written- and a book with the addresses of 20 children whom Andy had met at a camp for kids with cancer. Linda took it as a sign. She wrote each of them a letter and saw the impact it had on the children to know someone was thinking of them. She sent handwritten letters to terminally ill children who had gone to camp with her son. She decided to send one card to each child in Andy's book. Before she'd gotten through the list, one 12-year-old boy wrote to thank her. In his letter he told her, "I didn't think anyone knew I was alive." Those words made Linda realize someone else was hurting besides herself. Within a month of her son's death, Linda became severely depressed. After the initial responses from the letters she had written, Linda found her life's work. She sprang into action and formed Love Letters, a not-for-profit organization based in Lombard, Illinois that wrote weekly to children across the United States with the help of more than 100 volunteers. Love Letters became a full-time job and while the organization operated on a shoestring budget, they always seemed to manage with Linda's motivation to all the volunteers. The group sent newsletters, cards, birthday gifts, Christmas in July gifts as well as Christmas presents. Her cards and letters were brief, positive, and always personalized. The children responded continually and their parents did too, each thanking her for renewing life in their child. Linda got friends and neighbors to help with her mission, and an organization of writers began to form. They named their new group Love Letters, Inc. Love Letters cards are always bright, cheerful, and positive. They create cards for girls and boys from the ages of birth to 18 years old. These cards are unique because they are created by hand using stamps, stickers, scrapbook paper and art supplies. Inside each card, a positive inspirational message is written to give children faith, courage and the will to survive. These cards are the magical ticket for Love Letters Angels who are going through the difficult times of treatments and surgeries. Bringing smiles to childrens faces and laughter to their hearts is their mission. Once the cards are created, they are delivered to children going through the difficult times of treatments and surgeries in hospitals and organizations such as Give Kids the World and the Ronald McDonald House. Other cards are sent with love through the mail. Their motto: Sick children need

more than medicine; they need love and support from their families, friends and Love Letters "Pen Pals." To date, her organization has reached out to children from all over the world. The company has grown to include 16 chapters across the nation, and has delivered over 85,500 cards to children in the United States, Africa, Australia and even Pakistan. "I love things that are homemade. When people take that extra time and energy and hard work and make something that's tangible, I think it just gives you a feeling of warmth and friendship," said Kaitlyn Chana. the current CEO of Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness Inc. Kaitlyn, a junior at the University of Central Florida, developed a relationship with Linda when she made cards for Love Letters Inc. for her eighth-grade project. She was always such a joy to talk with and whenever I got off the phone with her I was encouraged to spread the word of volunteering to other teens in the community, said Kaitlyn. For her school project, Kaitlyn was supposed to give a five to ten minute presentation on making the cards with her friends, but ended up spending 45 minutes talking to her class about the project. That speech got more people interested in Love Letters Inc., and Kaitlyn started a club in high school, Lake Brantley Love Letters, to help get more cards made. Kaitlyn had been in contact with Linda through her own projects. When she learned that Linda had passed away and her organization was folding, Kaitlyn knew what she had to do. She took the initiative to keep Lindas work going and took over the non-profit organization and renamed it Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness. "I want to carry on her legacy," Kaitlyn said. When she gets home from school, Kaitlyn goes through the packages of cards sent to her every day. Her dining room table might resemble the mail room at Hallmark, with stacks of the handmade cards for sick children piled across the table. Kaitlyn spends time every day counting and organizing the cards by age and gender, to be delivered later in the week. The cards are made by Love Letter chapters as far away as northern California and Canada and as close as Oviedo. Kaitlyn is careful to make sure the cards are positive and inspirational and not the typical "get well soon" card. Kaitlyn was nominated by her peers and selected by Coca-Cola as an ambassador of positive living to be a 2010 Winter Olympics torchbearer through the extraordinary efforts she has made with Love Letters and other organizations in her community. Torchbearers were selected because of their commitments to sustainably promoting three aspects of positive living, including: balanced living staying active and physically fit while having fun with family and friends, community working to make good things happen for people throughout the community, and recycling helping the planet by recycling or donating time to a recycling program in the community or school. Being a torchbearer, Kaitlyn ran 300 meters to a screaming crowd in Calgary, Canada, carrying one of the worlds most famous symbols of unity and peace. She called the experience one of the most surreal moments of my life. She ran on Jan. 19, 2010, passing off the torch to Shawn Johnson, the Olympic gymnast who competed in China during the 2008 Summer Games. Kaitlyn said the two got to know each other before the run, and even choreographed a dance after the hand off. To add to her list of accomplishments, the former Miss Orlando Outstanding Teen says shed also like to compete in the Miss UCF Pageant on her way to making Love Letters a project that might eventually be featured in every school across the country. Her work with this organization has been life changing and the reward she gets is knowing that she has made an impact in someone's life. "Each card is special and unique in its own way," Kaitlyn said. For Kaitlyn, hand delivering the cards gives them a chance to see the impact it can have on

children and their parents. Many parents haven't seen their child smile in weeks or months, until the moment a card is handed to them. One child, Kaitlyn remembered, was a little girl who had just gotten out of surgery and loved princesses. She wore her crown as Miss Winter Park's Outstanding Teen and personally gave the girl a card. Even just getting out of surgery, the little girl's eyes beamed, she clapped and kicked her legs. Kaitlyn remembered the girl's mom vividly. "I could feel all the meaning and energy in the one 'thank you' from the mom," she said. Before Bremmer passed away, she told Kaitlyn that "it only takes one person to move a mountain, and then others will follow." While Kaitlyn said she didn't know what Linda meant at the time, it became clear to her after she died and Love Letters Inc. needed Kaitlyn to carry on the work. I wanted to be the one to move the mountain to help children going through the difficult times of treatments and surgeries. I took the initiative to carry on Lindas legacy by encouraging others to create positive, upbeat homemade cards for children with life-threatening illnesses through Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness, Inc. said Kaitlyn. "We've helped over 85,500 children, and it's mindboggling to know that it went from an eighth-grade project and now 85,500."