Andover woman uses social media, pen and paper to connect with seniors amid pandemic

Joanna Fliegelman is a passionate letter writer.

Not emails, or texts or DMs — the real thing, with pen and paper.

"I actually personally really like writing letters,” she said. “So I thought it would be a great project for anybody else around here that felt the same way.”

That project is a Facebook page called "Dear Doris and Arnold.” It’s named after her grandparents, Doris Goulet and Arnold Gunderson.

"Doris is my mom’s mom and Arnold is my dad’s dad,” Fliegelman says.

They both lived in assisted living toward the end of their lives. That inspired Fliegelman to use social media to find pen-pals for seniors living in isolation because of the pandemic.

"The assisted-living community has been basically isolated indoors, so they don’t have that communication with the outside world very much,” she said. “Letters seem like a pretty easy way to reach them and give them some job in their day.”

Fliegelman, a busy mother of four, started the page just two weeks ago from her Andover home.

The social media site includes addresses where volunteers can send letters, drawings, or other art.

Fliegelman says she’s sent out about 10 letters and has recruited up to 20 pen-pal volunteers.

“I live in Anoka actually almost my whole life, several years in Wabasha,” she reads from one. “Cybill plays piano and was in a band for quite some time, and she says that was really fun. I liked that,” she reads from another.

“What is it, about having that contact, when people are isolated? Does it make it better, do you think?" Fliegelman was asked.

“At some point, they just want to know they’re cared about, that they’re not alone in this world,” she said. “Loneliness is a big problem in assisted living, even without this virus, but now even more shut off from this world.”

But she admits she, too, is getting something back from this correspondence, from the pictures and hand-written letters: How this effort is making the world just a bit brighter for seniors, and just maybe the rest of us, one stroke of a pen at a time.

“My benefit is seeing the pictures, or hearing the feedback that yes, we’re getting letters, yes, this day has been brightened,” Fliegelman said. “Just knowing that I can contribute to that as well has been such a joy.”