As a young woman, Marion Matthews left home and began working at her first job, about 30 miles from her hometown. It was just far away enough to feel homesick.
“It was before you could call long distance,” she remembers. “I had to write my parents a letter during the week! We did a lot of letter-writing back then.”
The memory of sending and receiving letters in the mail stuck with her, and today, Matthews, a Sun City resident and charter member of the Crafting Memories Club, has volunteered her time for several years by creating and sending cards in the mail to veterans and members of the military.
Marion Matthews (left) and Crafting Memories Club president Karen Czerwinski work on hundreds of Thanksgiving themed cards for this year’s shipment. (Photos by Chris LaPelusa/Sun Day)
Matthews moved to Sun City in 2003 with her husband, Howard. After attending a program at the Huntley Public Library that sent Christmas cards to vets, Matthews was hooked.
“I just thought it was such a nice thing,” says Matthews. “My brother was in Vietnam, and he said they just appreciated the mail so much. I thought, well, that’s what I need to do.”
Even though the library eventually discontinued the program, Matthews continued making cards and sending them. First, she sent cards to Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, located just outside of Chicago. Then she became interested in sending mail to veterans who go out to Washington D.C. Part of each Honor Flight includes mail call, where the vets receive letters of gratitude for their service.
“The guys from the Flight were so happy to get the cards,” said Matthews. “And we made little gift bags for them with candy.”
As the list of mail recipients grow, Matthews is glad to have the help of her friends from the Crafting Memories Club.
“It’s ongoing,” she says. “People [make cards] at home, we do them at the Lodge, and I have a couple friends that come in once or twice a week. The Crafting Memories Club, they all pitch in.”
Matthews says now that she and her card making friends have connected with Journey Care, a hospice network that works to provide palliative care for veterans, plus a request for 200 Thanksgiving greetings to go out to new military inductees, there will be no shortage of greeting cards needing to be mailed out.
“It’s turning into a full time job,” said Matthews. “It’s such a good feeling.”
