Global nonprofit hopes to find new club at Augustana

Several years after her mother died from cancer, a Minnesota teen used her grief as inspiration for a global organization that provides emotional support to patients in children’s hospitals.

As a child, Grace Berbig and her sister would haul piles of cards to their mother’s hospital room to surround her with love and support. 

When Berbig reached her junior year of high school, she wanted others to be able to make that same difference for patients without worrying about the financial cost of doing so. 

In 2018, she founded Letters of Love, a non-profit organization that provides support for patients in children’s hospitals across the United States. The club works to make handwritten cards, tie blankets and bracelets for patients.

Since its founding, 99 high schools and 74 colleges across the nation have chosen to participate in the organization. 

Freshman Ciarra Resmen is working to start a branch of the club on campus this fall. If approved, Augustana could become the newest member to join Letters of Love. 

Resmen previously started a Letters of Love club at her high school in Minnesota after her friend told her about the organization’s mission. 

“It was super rewarding and super successful actually,” Resmen said. “We had meetings every other week, and we had a lot of people show up. It’s a super fun atmosphere, and that’s what we’re going for here. It’s just a good time for people to relax and do something for someone else.”

After graduating high school, Resmen decided to try to bring the club to the Augustana community.

The club hopes to carry on the traditions the organization was founded upon: designing cards to lift the spirits of sick children. 

The letters are adorned with colorful drawings and messages of hope.

“These are handmade cards, so the front is usually a design and something welcoming and exciting,” Resmen said. “Then the inside is usually a letter and you tell them about yourself or you tell them funny jokes. It’s just kind of trying to make someone’s day a little more special.”

Freshman Elissa Person, outreach and merchandise coordinator, said she is eager to see what the new club will foster.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to get involved on campus without having to have a certain skill set,” Person said. “Everything’s super personal and you can make the card however you like. There’s a lot of creativity in it, which is super cool.”

Person feels a deep connection to the club because she can relate to the children they write to.

“I myself have been in those positions where I’ve been in hospitals and I’ve struggled with illnesses,” Person said. “I think that when I was there, this would have been something that would have been super cool to have received. So being able to have that impact on other children going through the same thing is so cool.”

Resmen hopes to bring these cards to children in hospitals in the Sioux Falls area, such as the Sanford Children’s Hospital.  

“I think it’s a great way to be involved with younger generations and kids who are struggling,” Person said.

Freshman Eli Norris-Weber, a sports management major, is excited for the new club to come to campus.

“I feel like it impacts our community as a whole, bringing us together at times when ourselves and others need just a little more encouragement,” Norris-Weber said.

The club has submitted an application to Viking Central and is waiting to hear back on the next steps it must take to become a club on campus. 

Resmen hopes to have the first meeting towards the end of October or beginning of November. Until then, the executive board of Augustana’s Letters of Love club continues to reach out to students hoping to become members.

Those interested in joining the club can follow its Instagram page @Augustanalettersoflove for more information.

“It’s just a fun way to express yourself and something you can easily do while also connecting with new people,” Person said.