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If you’ve ever had a pen pal, you know how much fun it can be, and Karen Fullerton is helping Winchester seniors get them. They’re McCall students, and Fullerton’s project is called Letters Trellis.
“We’ve got 15 pairs,” Fullerton says. “These letters feed the spirit and nourish the writers.”
Students fill out a questionnaire, which includes whether they can read cursive.
“Some can’t and some seniors prefer writing their letters using a word processing program, even though hand written letters give them more personality,” Fullerton adds.
McCall teacher Christine Austin and Jenks Social Worker Suzanne Norton coordinate the letters, and meet each month with the senior letter writers. To protect students’ privacy, all the letters go to the school in one envelope.
“The seniors say they’re so impressed with the students’ flexibility and kindness and they get together in June,” Fullerton says.
The Hilltop Road resident started Letters Trellis in 2021 as part of the Jenks Center’s Intergenerational Team which received a Cummings Foundation grant.
Eventually she and Winchester resident Shukong Ou worked together on the program and they invite farmers market attendees to hand write a letter to someone, and the program mails them.
Fullerton taught courses as part of a lifelong learning program in letter writing. While in France in 2002, she discovered at one of their many festivals a similar program with the theme of love letters which was a partial inspiration for Letters Trellis.
