A card from a Girl Scout Troop for The Love Letter Project in 2024. Photo courtesy of Janet Jerde.

Community members can brighten the days of Colorado veterans this year by making cards through a local arts project.

The Love Letter Project, through a partnership between Littleton’s ROX Arts Gallery and the Aspen Grove shopping center, offers free card-making kits and a mailbox to drop off completed cards. The cards will be delivered to local veterans in time for Valentine’s Day, Aspen Grove spokesperson Janet Jerde said.

“By encouraging community members to write letters, the project aims to create a meaningful and personal connection that honors and uplifts veterans, showing them they are valued and remembered,” she said. “It’s a way to spread love, kindness, and a sense of community while giving back to those who have served.”

Priscilla Wohl, president of the Roxborough Arts Council, which manages ROX Arts Gallery, said the project is in its fifth year. The initiative started in 2020 as a way to thank doctors and nurses at AdventHealth Littleton, she said. Since then, the organizers have worked each year to coordinate card delivery to different groups, including children in local hospitals, seniors through the Meals on Wheels program and veterans.

“Each year, we look to find another group of people who could use a word of thanks and encouragement,” Jerde said.

A sign and a mailbox at ROX Arts Gallery where community members can drop off cards for The Love Letter Project. Photo courtesy of Janet Jerde.

This year, the organizers are partnering with the Denver Veterans Affairs Regional Office to deliver cards to individuals in Veterans Community Living Centers across the state, Jerde said. Veterans in Denver, Fitzsimmons, Florence, Monte Vista, Rifle, Grand Junction and Colorado Springs will receive cards, she said.

Wohl said volunteer artists gathered at ROX Arts Gallery to assemble 2,000 card-making kits that include cardstock, ribbons, stickers and other crafting supplies. Community members can pick the kits up for free or make cards with their own supplies.

The project is funded by dollars from Aspen Grove and the Colorado Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD), of which the Roxborough Arts Council is a member, Wohl said.

Those who participate can drop off their cards at the mailbox outside of ROX Arts Gallery in Aspen Grove, located at 7301 S. Santa Fe Dr., Suite 222. Cards must be dropped off by Feb. 2.

“It gives the community an opportunity to say thank you and to extend some kindness to people who they otherwise wouldn’t be in contact with,” Wohl said. “It’s a way to remind people they’re being thought of, they’re remembered and — in particular with veterans — their service matters.”

The organizers encourage individuals, schools, local groups and organizations, businesses, and others to participate in the project.

“We want to remind everyone of the power of words,” Jerde said. “A thoughtful note can brighten someone’s day and create a lasting emotional impact.”

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