The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 160 billion pieces of mail each year. Included in all this mail crisscrossing the country are the personal letters that help make our day a little better—a letter from grandparents, a birthday card or simply a “thinking of you” note. Who doesn’t love that feeling of excitement when you see a hand-written envelope with your name on it on the mailbox?

We recently came across an organization that is working to bring this feeling of joy to people across America. A Letter for Better was founded by Travis White in an effort to engage his Central Michigan University classmates in the process of sending hand-written letters through the Postal Service to random addresses across the country. These letters are sent with the simple but effective intention of brightening a stranger’s day with a thoughtful letter.

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Travis about his organization and the vital role the Postal Service plays in our daily communication. Check out what Travis had to say

Before the times of Facebook and mobile devices, writing letters was the only way to communicate with friends, family and loved ones. From simple greeting cards to love letters, the United States Postal Service brings joy to millions. With the new age of technology, people resorted to new ways of communicating and drifted away from the more personal way of sending thoughts through letter writing.

A Letter for Better is a student designed and created organization based out of Central Michigan University that writes letters to random strangers from all across the U.S. We write our letters with one goal in mind: have the person reading our letter end up with a smile on their face! We obtain our addresses from a public database and simply write them a letter. We don’t know a single thing about the people that we write, and that’s what makes it exciting. Every other week, the members of our organization brainstorm a new “theme” for the focus of the letters. These themes can be anything from a favorite quote to the letter writer’s life story! We will do anything to bring a smile to a strangers face!

The mail is important to A Letter for Better because it creates a personal connection between our members and somebody that we have never met. Knowing that somebody took the time to hand write a letter and send it through the mail system means so much more than a Facebook message. The USPS is important to our organization because, without it, we would not be able to improve the lives of others and make this a more positive world for people to live in.

A Letter for Better and its members use the USPS to send about 125 letters a month, and the number continues to grow. Along the way, our members follow three basic guidelines: Paper, Pen, Personal and write a letter for the better!

Travis White
President and Founder
aletterforbetter.yolasite.com