Fri, November 13, 2009 - 10:39:47

2500 Birthday Wishes: An Eighth Grade Teacher Gives New Meaning to “the Write Stuff”

In recent years, email, texting, instant messaging and social networking have given us amazing ways to connect like never before, but in the process, we’ve come to neglect another form of communication that works like no other to harness the power of nice: the handwritten letter. 

Although it might seem antiquated, a simple note written in your own script and sent through the mail can have a powerful effect on its recipient, but in the name of time, we often choose a more efficient method to get the job done.  But, if you think you don’t have time to write your friend or loved one a letter, consider the story of Dan Stroup, a Bible studies teacher at Heritage Christian School in Indiana, who for the past thirty years has written birthday letters to every one of his 2,500 former students each and every night.

Stroup explains “everybody likes getting mail. Isn’t that right? Email is nice. But, there’s nothing like finding mail in the mailbox.” And so for three decades, he’s made it his cause to take the time to send a personal birthday wish to all of his past students.  When asked why, Stroup’s answer is simple: “Maybe this letter today is exactly what that person’s going to need.”  And in many cases Stroup’s small yet thoughtful gestures have helped to get Heritage Christian alums through tough times.

Despite the large number of letters Stroup sends weekly, he tells WTHR Eyewitness News that every letter he writes is an original, eschewing the impersonal practice of writing form letters.  Filling the lines with recollections of years past and questions about the future, Stroup uses the notes as a way to connect on a personal level with his former students and the practice has proven so popular that the teacher no longer has to purchase his own stamps.  Instead he finds that people all over town just give them to him.

So as we look ahead to the holiday season, we would like to issue a NICE challenge to all of you: this year, dust of your pens and paper and write a letter to someone who matters to you.  It could be a parent, a significant other, a dear friend, mentor, or even an old teacher.  As you seal it up, affix the stamp, and hand it to the postman, imagine the surprise they will feel when discovering something just for them in their mailbox.  While the rewards will likely be more far reaching, the mere satisfaction of knowing you brightened their day will make it worth your while.

 

Posted by Linda and Robin