AUGUST LETTER COLLECTION: 8/21 - 8/25!
In April 2021, founding Chapter Head Ciara Johnson-Corwin invited some friends to help form a new chapter of Letters for Rose. Later that year, the four founding chapter leaders; Ciara, with the help of Isabella Gallo, Dominic Monti, and Connor Johnson-Corwin, met on August 15th, 2021 to establish the Westfield Chapter.
The three-member leadership started quickly, with our first ever Westfield High School club meeting taking place on October 5, 2021 in Room 235 with Ms. Tiskus. This was the public launch of our chapter, with just four volunteers in attendance: Audrey Cowles, Rylie Tierney, Phebe and Lucy von Stange.
In our first round, we collected 20 letters, but our chapter quickly expanded to deliver over 200 by the end of 2021.
2022 started off fast, and our chapter grew exponentially and our number of volunteers and letters spiked. January also introduced our traditional "Volunteer of the Month" format that we continue to present day. In May 2022, we released our first ever leadership application and made our first public appearance at a craft fair. Later in 2022, we had table at Westfield's "Big Day" event in August, just before our chapter turned one year old.
After celebrating our 1 year birthday on August 15 with the slogan "one year of spreading joy", we made big changes within our chapter. Our September 2022 round introduced personalized letters, we started allowing volunteers to nominate our Volunteer of the Month, held a second workshop at Westfield Middle School, and volunteered in-person at the Genesis Healthcare Center around Christmas.
So far in 2023, we've welcomed six new leadership team members, allowed volunteers to attend our leadership meetings for the first time, executed the first ever "Letter Blitz" at WHS (where every student wrote a letter for our chapter!), and introduced pen pals!
So, where do we head from here?
In May 2023, we intend to release our Letter-Writing Guide, and launch our website!
In June 2023, our new powerhouse leadership team will start running our chapter as our founders and seniors graduate. We'll also hold our Letterpalooza and are hoping to volunteer in-person again!
AND SO MUCH MORE! Our new team is working hard to finalize plans, but we can promise the future is bright for the Westfield chapter of Letters for Rose, and we couldn't be any more thankful for your support.