Topeka middle school students, nursing home residents start pen pal program

Kay Jones, 77, and her husband have lived at Presbyterian Manor nursing home for last seven years.

Due to the pandemic, for the first time, they're apart.

"Our shelter in place does not allow me to leave my area and go down to his,” Jones said. “So yeah, that's hard."

It’s the little things in times like these that keep Kay going: Skype calls with her husband, and letters from her new pen pals — students at Landon Middle School.

"It's so special for me to hear from children, and to hear what they are experiencing and their thoughts on this,” she said.

Through the new program, students and Manor residents are writing pen-pal letters back and forth.

They share updates on their lives, send words of encouragement, and ask questions about how each other is doing.

"My kids sort of went crazy with it,” Principal Stacy Schreiner, said. “I thought I might get 10 or 11 letters, and I think I go about 150."

"They're very kind and they really want to know about us,” Jones said. "I would like the children to know that their letters mean a lot to the people here."