Every life is a letter
worth keeping.
Two high schoolers from outside Philadelphia, sitting with elders, and writing down the stories before they're gone.
We sit and
we listen.
Letter of Life is a small, volunteer project that records the life stories of seniors in care — the ones who don't get many visitors, whose families live far, whose memories are quietly going unheard.
Over a few unhurried conversations, we give residents the room to talk about everything that made a life: the childhood street, the first job, the love, the loss, the things they'd want a grandchild to know. Then we write it down — once as a full biography, and once as a one-page letter in their own voice, addressed to the people they love.
It costs the resident and the facility nothing. With their permission, the letters live on so the people in them aren't forgotten.
Three sittings, one life
BeginningsWhere the story starts
The childhood home, the family table, the school years. Where they come from, and the world they grew up inside.
The middle chaptersThe years that shaped them
Work, marriage, the children, the moves, the proudest day and the hardest one. The turns that made them who they are.
ReflectionsWhat they want remembered
The advice, the messages to family, the things still worth saying. The wisdom they'd like to leave behind.
The keepsakeTwo letters, delivered
We write a full biography and a one-page letter in their voice, read it back to them, and hand it to their family — printed and theirs to keep.
Our first stories
are on their way.
We're in the rooms now, listening. Soon the first letters will be here — the lives of the people we've had the honor of writing down. Check back, or come read the ones already underway.
See all stories →
Bring our listening
to your residents.
We partner with independent living, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing across Greater Philadelphia and South Jersey — at no cost. Meaningful time for your residents, a lasting gift for their families.
Learn about partnering