Seniors in long-term care receive handmade Valentine’s Day cards

A simple act of kindness often can make a large impact on the person who receives it.

Laguna Beach resident Meldie Moore, who founded Moore Law for Children, followed through on that philosophy as Valentine’s Day approached, helping to make and collect cards for seniors in long-term care facilities.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Moore has been utilizing inspirational quotes during virtual meetings as she has looked for ways to keep her team engaged and offer support.

A quote by Mother Teresa recently inspired Moore to bring about a campaign called “Wave of Change”: “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

From September to the end of the year, the firm contributed $1,000 per month to small businesses and nonprofit organizations in Laguna Beach.

A new effort this month shows love to a sector of the Orange County population that has been among those most adversely affected by the pandemic. More than 1,000 handmade greeting cards were collected and sent to the Council on Aging — Southern California, a nonprofit group that serves older and disabled adults in Inyo, Mono, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Moore’s youngest son, Liam, a seventh-grade student at Thurston Middle School, has been a Boy Scout for several years, and she said the idea came from a conversation with fellow Scouts mother Lisa Jenkins, the president and chief executive for the Council on Aging.

Benjamin Kruse, right, and Daniel Kruse make Valentine’s Day cards to be given to seniors in long-term care facilities.

(Courtesy of Meldie Moore)

“We did it every night for about a week,” Moore said of manufacturing the cards. “When we didn’t meet my 1,000-card goal, we sat up and we made another 35 cards [on Feb. 8], and the rest of my office pulled together, and then we made it over 1,000. We were short by 86 cards before our first deadline.”

Moore received the aid of several community groups, including local Boys & Girls Scouts and Laguna Beach Unified School District students in creating the cards. It was important to her the cards be of a handmade nature to offer a personal connection.

“The idea that all of these seniors and disabled adults who have been in long-term care are already isolated and alone, they’ve been so much more isolated and alone [because of the pandemic], and it just breaks my heart,” Moore said. “I thought this was a perfect time to let them know that they’re not forgotten and that they’re loved, they’re valued.

“It’s a simple gesture to make a handmade card. It costs very little. You don’t have to be creative or artistic because it’s OK to copy. The idea was just taking a little time out of your day to let someone know that they weren’t forgotten.”

In sending Valentine’s cards to seniors, the project took a page out of the playbook of the SmileMakers program run by the Council on Aging, which provides gifts for seniors when the holiday season comes around. Jenkins said that the nonprofit group expected it might receive a couple hundred cards and was pleasantly surprised at the volume of cards that arrived.

“When our ombudsmen found out that we had 1,038 cards waiting for distribution, they scurried into our offices, picked up all the cards and got them out to all the facilities for residents before Valentine’s Day,” Jenkins said. “It’s just absolutely wonderful and so heartwarming.”

Handmade Valentine’s Day cards created and collected to be given to seniors in long-term care through the Council on Aging.

(Courtesy of Meldie Moore)

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