Lisa Warren already had a pen pal, a friend in Iowa whose letters have arrived in her mailbox every week for 40 years and vice versa.
So she knew about the art of letter writing, and she thought she might want to write another one (or two) after she read about an opportunity to connect via the USPS last summer.
It was July, and Humanities Nebraska was launching “Dear Stranger,†a letter exchange to connect Nebraskans during the pandemic.
The premise was simple (and borrowed from Oregon Humanities). Pick up a pen (or sit down at your computer) and tell someone this: When you look back at your life in 2020, what stories do you think you will tell about this time and what you learned about yourself?
Humanities Nebraska would collect the letters and send them off, pairing two writers.
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Warren mailed her letter a few days before the deadline at the end of July. Warren, retired from a career in women’s apparel sales and marketing, described her life in Lincoln during COVID-19.
“I wrote about how the pandemic had affected my life,†she said. “Shared ideas on how I spent my time.†(For example, home improvement projects, virtual escape travel, posting baby pictures of various family members on a group text, playing “Guess Who?†and realizing “I am a homebody at heart.â€)
They received 50 letters, said Mary Yager, associate director of Humanities Nebraska. Letters from students and teachers, professionals and retirees, home school families and elders in assisted living.
They hope to double the number for Round 2.
A letter to a stranger based on place. Where you live. Where your roots are. A place you love to visit or long to go.
“Last time, our only criteria for the matching was to pair with someone not in the same community,†Yager said. “This time, we might match based on what’s written, certain things that might make for a good match.â€
Send a postcard if you’re not a letter writer, Yager said. Send a photograph of the place you love. A drawing.
The idea is to draw us closer.
A perfect fit for the nonprofit that has an overarching mission: “To help Nebraskans explore what connects us and makes us human."
Not a bad thing to aspire to in 2021.
A letter from a stranger is a way to start.
Warren’s return letter came from a young Nebraska man who was living in New York but getting ready to return home to Omaha.
She’d lived in New York, too, a serendipitous connection. His letter was deep, she said, heartfelt.
“He was really wise for a young man.â€
The pair were “one and done,†with their correspondence, Warren said — Humanities Nebraska arranges an exchange of addresses if both parties are willing — but the Lincoln letter writer is thinking about dipping back into Dear Stranger Part 2.
Out in North Platte, Erika Siebring wrote a letter to a stranger in July, too. The 23-year-old television producer and anchor filled two pages, front and back. She wrote about growing up in Colorado and moving east for her job, the places she’d discovered on the Nebraska Passport Program. (A diner in McCook, a bar in Broken Bow, an antiques store in Arnold.) She tucked handwritten recipe cards for brownies and a casserole into the envelope, dishes she’d made during the pandemic.
She sent it off, remembering how exciting it was as a kid to get a card in the mail.
And when she got a letter back with an Omaha postmark, she felt that thrill again.
“I’ve never been to far-east Nebraska,†Siebring said. “So it really helped me discover more of the state in a weird way.â€
Her “Dear Stranger†letter was penned by a single woman in her 50s who worked at a private school. Unlike Warren and her Dear Stranger, the two women continued to correspond — six letters and counting.
“What we’ve been up to, how we spent our holidays and how we’re all hanging in there.â€
Siebring told her boyfriend and friends back home in Parker, Colorado, that she has a pen pal.
And she’s ready to have another.
“Today, I started working on my second ‘Dear Stranger,’ letter,†she said Tuesday. “I would 100% recommend it."
VIDEOS, PHOTOS: CREATING COMMUNITY DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS
Video, photos: Creating community during the COVID-19 crisis in Lincoln and Nebraska
Meals for seniors
Dance recital with Dad
Child Advocacy Center
Generosity
Food Bank
Matt Talbot
Malone Center
Finding a way to connect
Community Action
Relaying a COVID-19 test
The show went on … a month early
Special delivery
4-H learning
Lincoln reads
Cruisin' at home
96th birthday
Minden Christmas lights
Quilting masks
Waverly parade
Kindness cards
Stained glass
Switching to hand sanitizer
Parks bingo
Happy birthday from NSP
Randolph's offer
We're in This Together
Solidarity here in south Lincoln
— Chris Basnett (@HuskerExtraCB)