As Ella Beeman walked from her BioChem class to the Bible building for Chapel, she thought about how the next hour would unfold. She had poured her heart into making the day happen, and now, it was finally here.
She wondered if people would even show up. Students walked in front of her, in the same direction, but she was still not sure if they would end up where she was going.
Once she got to the room, she began to cry.
Tears of joy streamed down her face as she saw a room full of people, some of whom had to sit on the floor or lean against the walls for a spot. All of them were there to make cards for children in hospitals, connected by the purpose of serving others, a mission Beeman had dreamed would reach the ACU community.
Beeman is the founder of the ACU chapter of Letters of Love, a nonprofit organization to provide students with opportunities to send hand-crafted cards to children battling serious illnesses in hospitals.
The Letters of Love cofounders (From left to right): Hannah Gonzalez, Taylor Prestage, Ella Beeman, Laci Lightfoot and Avery Williams. (Photo courtesy of Ella Beeman)
She was introduced to the organization when her friend began a chapter at her high school. But it was not until her sophomore year in college that she began to apply to start a chapter on campus.
Her inspiration came after witnessing her childhood best friend, Audrey Lacina, who plays alongside her on the softball team, being hospitalized from Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome. The two were around 14 years old, and Beeman watched Lacina battle the extremely rare and potentially fatal condition.
“She was in there for Christmas, and so we wrote her a bunch of little cards and letters from all my friends at home, put them in a box and sent them to her,” said Beeman, junior biology major from Lowell, Arkansas.
Beeman contacted Letters of Love last year, but the organization said they weren’t accepting any more chapters at the time. When Lacina was hospitalized again last year, the softball team sent her cards, which Beeman said reminded her of the cards’ impact, and she continued to hope for the chapter’s approval.
The chapter got approved this fall, with the first meeting taking place on Oct. 15. The club has met twice since and moved to a bigger room in Hart Auditorium. At the last meeting on Wednesday, students created Christmas cards, and over 150 people attended.
“The main goal of everything is just to spend an hour a month doing something for other people,” Beeman said. “It’s not meant to fill our cups, but it has. No matter how stressed you are, you walk into this room and you’re like, ‘Man, these people are going through so much worse, and we can be stuck in a hospital during Christmas, but we’re here.”
When creating a card, students are told not to put anything that acknowledges a child’s condition or uses phrases such as ‘get well soon’ or ‘keep fighting.’ Beeman said the harsh reality is that the cards are going to kids who just might not get better.
“You don’t want to put something in their head that is like, ‘Get well, soon, you’re going to get through this,’ and then they just kind of write it off, because they’re like, ‘That’s not true.’ You want to be personable with the kids, and it’s more about making a connection and them knowing that someone from 20 states away is thinking about them and supporting them on their journey, no matter what.”
Students gather for Letters of Love Chapel. (Photo courtesy of Ella Beeman)
The organization also has rules for not writing religious messages on the cards.
“If we’re going to write something like spiritual or religious,” Beeman said, “we have to clip them separately, to go to a certain hospital or something. That’s the one downside and the one problem I have with the organization, but it’s the structure of the hospitals in America.”
Hannah Gonzalez, treasurer of the Letters of Love chapter, said not being able to express their faith in the cards is difficult, but it’s also a way for them to show their faith in more than just words.
“But at the same time, we, the world, should know our faith and that we are Christians because of our actions, not necessarily always because of what we say,” said Gonzalez, junior accounting major from Lucas. “This is like a perfect way to display that I follow the Lord because my actions are telling that.”
After the meetings, the letters are sent to the Letters of Love headquarters in Minnesota and are dispersed to hospitals.
“The first meeting, we didn’t send them to a specific place,” Beeman said. “At our second meeting, we let Audrey kind of share her story, and let everyone know how impactful the letters are, and how much of a difference they’re really making. And so from that meeting, we sent them to the hospital that Audrey spent her two years in.”
Letters of Love has received overall positive feedback from the ACU community, said Avery Williams, cofounder of the Letters of Love chapter.
“People are just like, ‘This is such a good idea, why have we not had this sooner?’ said Williams, junior biology major from Abilene. “They’re like, ‘I’ve always wanted to find a way to serve others, once I heard about this, I was like I have to come, it’s just such a good way to do that.’”
Beeman said she hopes the club continues even after she graduates, especially with the help of Taylor Prestage, sophomore biology major from Aledo, who also helped start the club.
“It’s very encouraging when we tell friends about it, and then they show up and bring their friends, and their friends bring other friends,” Prestage said. “It just turns into such a big thing and keeps growing and growing every meeting. I hope that continues to grow even more, and I’m really excited for the future of this.”
