What is Cards of Kindness?
End of year celebrations are a happy time for many of us. It’s a time for meeting friends, family and talking about a good year passed. If you’re in hospital, the festive season can be hard and even lonely. Some people who are often very lonely are in the Mental Health Precinct at Austin Hospital. Yarra Plenty Regional Library has an annual project to bring a little happiness into people’s lives.
Do you want to make someone’s day?
We encourage you to write a friendly message for a person in the mental health precinct!
How to Help:
1. Gather all your unused season’s greeting cards. Look in Op Shops and ask around.
2. Address the cards ‘Dear friend’. Add some gentle and compassionate words of care.
3. Sign your cards with your first name or ‘from a friend in the community’.
4. Please leave your envelopes unsealed.
5. Just drop your cards into a postbox at your branch of Yarra Plenty Regional Library. We will arrange for delivery to the psychiatric wards at the Austin Hospital.
Wondering what to write? Think about when you’re feeling really down, or alone … what would you like someone to say to you?
We encourage greeting cards for all cultural celebrations like Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Ōmisoka.
For ideas on what to write, book your place in a free card-making and writing workshop at Ivanhoe Library and Cultural Hub. Other card-making workshops are happening at Rosanna, Whittlesea, and ILCH Makerspace.
This is the third year that Yarra Plenty Regional Library has supported the delivery of cards to Austin Hospital Acute Psychiatric Unit, supported by Banyule Council’s Arts & Culture team. The project began as “December Cards for Psych Wards” conceived by Heidi Everett, local artist and mental health advocate. She was inspired by similar projects in the United States. December was chosen because many vulnerable people feel isolation more acutely during the holiday season.
Further information: Alan Thompson 9497 5780 or ivayprl@yprl.vic.gov.au
You might be interested in reading about the value of social contact in lonely times:
Hello Stranger: How we find connection in a disconnected world by Will Buckingham
Reading about the long tradition of giving hospitality to strangers helped me to understand my own contacts with new people in new situations.
Together: Loneliness, health and what happens when we find connection by Vivek Hallegere Murthy
We have all heard, during lockdowns, of the value to our health of social connections. This book gives us the details and the reasons why that’s true.
If you would like to try making your own greeting cards, these books (and videos) will show you how:
How to craft with paper: with over 50 techniques and 20 easy projects Mollie Makes
I found this an ideal book for a beginner who want to explore the many techniques of making beautiful things with paper. All of the projects are carefully tested by Mollie makes magazine.
House of Cards by Sarah Hamilton
This book is for crafters with some experience Its best features are its visuals and its tips on bringing out your design creativity. There are ten sample projects with tips from the artists who designed them. There are even hints on selling the designs you’ve created.
