87. ‘Kindness Through Letters’ and Spreading Love and Encouragement Through Thousands of Letters (with Allison Bond)

Allison Bond is 28 years old, has cerebral palsy, and lives in Lincoln, Arkansas. During the COVID pandemic she decided she wanted to do something to make a difference and started writing letters to various people. Several years and almost 6,000 letters later…she’s touched a lot of people and lives. She writes to individuals in many different situations…people in prison or serving in the military to people affected by natural disasters or even people in her own community. 

This candid conversation is a great reminder that anyone truly can make a difference. Hear about some of Allison’s experiences and why she thinks we should treat others with kindness no matter the situation.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Kindness Through Letters Instagram

Kindness Through Letters Facebook

Kindness Through Letters Amazon List

Kindness Through Letters PayPal

Follow the podcast on social media:

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Transcript

Melissa: This episode of the podcast features Alison Bond. She lives in Arkansas, and she's been featured in media outlets all over the country, highlighting her Kindness Through Letters mission project. And I really felt like this was just a great, candid conversation with Alison.

I felt like I was a good friend who had come over to her home, and we were just sitting down, having a good chat together. I feel honored that I was able to sit and talk with her and learn more about her project and what inspires her as she does it.

And I really think that this conversation will inspire anyone who's listening to not let your limitations keep you from reaching out to others and truly making a difference.

Welcome to the Do Something More podcast. The show all about service, where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more. If you're passionate about nonprofits or looking for simple ways to volunteer and give back to the causes that matter to you, the is the podcast for you.

I'm your host, Melissa Draper. Stick around and I'll show you all the many ways anyone can truly make a difference in our world today.

All right, welcome to another episode of the podcast. And today I am not covering a nonprofit. I'm actually covering a wonderful woman that has started this mission project called Kindness Through Letters, and she has the goal of spreading God's love through letters to others.

I'd like to welcome on the podcast here today, Alison Bond from Lincoln, Arkansas. Allison, welcome to the podcast.

Allison: Yes, I'm glad to be here.

Melissa: Let's just start off with you just introducing yourself. Give us a little background on you and who you are.

Allison: Yes. So I was born at 25 weeks premature. I have mild cerebral palsy, and I am 28.

Melissa: So you've had cerebral palsy that's been a diagnosis your whole life?

Allison: Yes. Mild cerebral palsy. Yeah. It's not. Yes. I have lived with it all my life, and that's how it's going to be. But whenever I was, like, in elementary school, my handwriting was horrible.

And when Covid struck, I was like, well, I want to make a difference in people's, you know, lives by writing a bunch of letters to them. And so I started out, like, writing prisoners that I knew and writing soldiers who I didn't know.

And then it grew from, like, writing people that I knew or just, like, random people all over till I got my P.O. box because I was using my home address at first, which is a bad idea when you're riding a bunch of prisoners just from a thought.

Melissa: Imagine.

Allison: So I got a P.O. box, and I've been. It has grown. It has went from me writing. Well, at first it was like writing five people. Well, now I've got like five tubs, like rubbermaid tubs filled with letters that I finished.

And even though I'm doing what God has for me, and I'm not really supposed to take recognition for it, now that I've had so many interviews, I have people stop me in the middle of, like, the grocery store and other places that.

That apparently know me from Facebook. That actually happened to me yesterday.

Melissa: Yeah, well, as you said, you're. You're doing it out of the goodness, out of your heart, because you feel called to do it. But people are inspired by that.

Allison: Oh, yeah.

Melissa: I want to share that with you.

Allison: So my. One of my prison pen pals died a couple weeks ago from suicide. And yeah, so I had went to my prison pen pals memorial service and his family presented me with a rose for his.

For, like, friendship purposes, because I would always write to him.

And I mean, I was writing to him. He was like, one of my first, you know, pen pals and all. And I would encourage him and send him like, scripture and Bible verses and other things,

and he would, like, draw pictures for me and then send them to me. And as me and his family were talking at the memorial service, I was digging through a pile of letters that I had, that I had gotten sent to me from my.

In my mom's car because I apparently run out of space, and that's where I stick it.

So I was just unexpectedly digging through my pile of mail, and I found just this unexpected prison letter that he had written to me that I didn't even know was in that pile.

Melissa: It was you able to share that with his family?

Allison: Yes, I was able to show it to them, show it to his sister, who is like the sweetest woman ever. But yeah,

it was pretty great honoring his life in that. In that way. And I'm so glad that they did not make me speak because that was a very emotional day and no telling what would have came out, I bet.

Melissa: Well, I want to go back just a little bit. What was it that made you ultimately. Sounds like you kind of felt called to do something to spread that love. What was it that made you decide to write letters?

And how did you. How did you find the people you would write to? How did you go about exploring that?

Allison: So, definitely, I mean, obviously with, you know, God's calling of me being kind to people, which I found out that is actually the biblical meaning of my name, which I did not know.

I had no idea until I randomly looked it up on the Internet. And all my addresses come from either people on Facebook, people that see me in town,

or like, for instance, the people in prison. Like, I love just randomly writing random people that don't even know me, but half the time it's people I know or people I went to high school with.

I mean, it, anybody who needs encouragement, whether they're in prison, out of prison,

the ones that aren't even in jail, or, you know, the ones that have sicknesses or whatever, like, I love encouraging them in many ways. Just. I mean, right now it's just like finding the most randomest person and just randomly sending them a card, which helps a lot.

That's probably why this girl keeps getting stopped in town a lot. But yeah, I.

In fact, on Sunday, some lady who. I had no idea who the heck she was,

and she gave me a huge hug and I still don't know who she is. But yeah, I. I enjoy like randomly sending somebody a card whether I know them or not.

That's what I did for Christmas cards this year was just for last year was just randomly pick out random people, like from the neighborhood or anywhere, and I just randomly do it.

Or I have people randomly message me on Facebook and tell me so and so needs this, and then they send me the address and I add it to the list.

So.

Melissa: So just all over it sounds like all sorts of ways that you've been able to write those letters. How many have you done so far? Do you know? Have you lost count or have you kept track of it?

Allison: Oh, right now it's kind of off track because I also have, like, severe adhd. And so the other day I was trying to do it by myself, which it was probably a really bad idea.

I probably needed some help on that. But I decided I was going to do like, all the little ones first, but instead. Or all the little tubs that I had before I moved on to the huge stuff.

I never got through any of them except for one tiny tub. And I hit 400 in that tub. And then I stopped because I got sidetracked. But yeah, I. I was just like, eh, I'm not gonna count them all.

I'm just gonna let them pile up. And so I may still have Christmas cards from last year that I didn't send off because I put them in the tub and then forget that they're there in there.

Melissa: Sounds like you have a lot of names and letters that you're keeping track of. And one, I. One thing I saw said that you'd said you sent over 6,000 at this point.

Does that sou.

Allison: Well, that was like. I think that might have been from when I first started. Like,

from when I first started till now. But again, my. My ADHD makes it like virtually impossible for me to count everything, so.

Yeah.

Melissa: And it sounds like you said you have a little help with some of it. I did see in one of your videos, your cute dog sitting on your lap while you were writing out letters.

Allison: Yes, she's. That was when she was like a really tiny baby. And now she's like Ms. Protector Butt over there because she don't like, she doesn't like, like my. My other dog messing with me too much.

She just wants me pretty much. But.

But it's funny. I think I should let my soon to be adopted brother count all my letters because he's good at math. I am not.

I feel like he'd be. He'd be mad at me if I. If I made him do that. So.

Melissa: Sounds like you have a lot of support for what you're doing.

Allison: Oh, yes. More. The more support, the less insane it probably be.

Melissa: I've noticed you've also written to military individuals. Is that. That's another group you've written to, right?

Allison: Yes, I've written to a lot of people. I've written to soldiers, people in prison, people who are like, sick, or people who have lost loved ones or just anybody that needs encouragement.

Like, I don't care where they're from, I'll write to anybody. I haven't wrote to anybody in, like, outside the US yet, because that's a little more complicated. But.

And it costs more.

But yeah,

but yeah, I love writing to just random people with them. I mean, it could be the most. I probably reached the majority of people in the U.S. but again, I can't.

I have totally lost track. So.

But yeah, so I absolutely love being able to, like, encourage people and spreading God's love to them in a way that is so simple. I mean, anybody could do it.

Honestly, it's just. It's pretty easy.

Melissa: Yeah. That is an inspiration that you are showing. I think that no matter what anyone thinks their limitations might be, there is always a way we can make a difference and spread that love.

So what's your vision for it? Do you want to just keep seeing it grow? Do you want to invite others to join you? Like, what's kind of been your vision for how you want to keep going with kindness through letters?

Allison: Definitely making it bigger. Like you said, growing it and Then, like, having people, like, help me out. You know what I mean? Like, I have volunteers that obviously they use my return address because that's just easier.

And they've been writing me a letter. They've been writing letter, helping me out by writing stuff and everything. And then the whole, like, you know, growing it and stuff. I actually was going to say, I hope that, you know, last year it was like, I want to get to New York.

Well, that has already happened. Was wanting, like, CBS News, you know, like the big national news. Like, I was wanting them to get wind of it. And I thought, oh, I'm just going to try to, like, Facebook them and see what happens.

Well, I didn't expect them to see it. I thought, oh, nobody's going to see it. Like, you know, they don't want to. They don't pay attention, basically.

And I was shocked because they actually contacted me after that,

like, not even 30 minutes after that, which is impressive.

And again, I wasn't like. I was like, oh, you know, it's not gonna happen. Like, I was doubting myself, telling myself, no, it's not gonna happen. And it did.

So I don't know when it's gonna be, but they're planning on doing it sometime this year. But they actually wanted to fly me out, out to New York or whatever.

But my mom and dad were like, no, you're not flying by yourself on an airplane.

So. And I've never been anywhere except if I go somewhere, like, if my parents drive me. But other than that, I've never been on that type of trip. They're gonna.

I don't know when they're supposed to do it, but they're actually coming down here kind of like what BYUTB did.

So I'm hoping that it'll be, like, during the summer when it's not so cold,

because it's, like, really cold down here right now.

Melissa: Well, my podcast isn't quite as big as cbs,

but I think it's obvious a lot of people are inspired by what you're doing and want to hear more about it. And you mentioned there you. So you've recruited volunteers now that help you write letters?

Allison: Yeah, I mean, they don't. Obviously they're not as devoted to this as I am, but they're helping out, so every little bit of help counts, that's for sure.

Melissa: Yeah, that's great. Well, what are your biggest needs? I'm sure you go through a lot of paper, a lot of pen, a lot of stamps.

Allison: Yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah. Stamps.

Melissa: How do you fulfill all those need, all those needs. How do you, how do you get your materials for what you're doing? Because that's a lot of letters.

Allison: Yeah, I have several like, you know, local drop off can. What do you call it, Several drop off areas like, like stores and stuff locally that help out because they like, they're my little drop off locations for local people.

Otherwise I have a list on Facebook.

But yes, stamps are like the most needed thing right now. I mean, that impends. And apparently this girl goes through way too many envelopes than what I should have.

Melissa: Yeah, well, there's obviously no, no limit on what you have showed someone can do that has the, the heart and the compassion for it. So do you want to share where people can find you if they want to help donate or help you with those?

Postage stamp?

Allison: Yes, and I will send you the link to those. But yes, I have a Facebook page. I have like a Amazon list that is also on my page, so it's pretty easy to find.

I have a, like a PayPal link that they can help if they don't want to order stuff because ordering is a little more complicated, especially when it comes to like shipping cost and all that.

It gets a little, it even gets a little confusing when I try to do it.

Melissa: Mm.

Allison: But yeah, it's. But definitely, definitely stamps because that is like, I mean, obviously, you know, I have a bunch of local people helping me. And speaking of that, I gotta go get, get some donation items after a while because people drop them off and since my mom works all week and I don't drive,

I really don't have a specific way to get them, but I get them. Like I'm going to have to probably get them probably this weekend. And it's cool because they always text me and they're like, hey, you got something.

And I'm like, oh,

well that's good.

Melissa: I will leave links to all of those in the show notes. So anyone that's listening here that wants to help support you can do that. And Allison, we always love to kind of end this podcast on words of encouragement or advice.

So what words or encouragement advice would you have for anyone listening that's felt called or inspired to do something like you have, what's your encouragement and advice for them to just to do that, to not worry about the limitations and to move forward with it.

What would you tell them?

Allison: Definitely a lot of praying and definitely do like what God wants you to do. If you feel led to do it, just go with it. Like go with the flow. Just basically I mean, you know, never give up on your dream type of thing and always and always do your best to help people,

no matter the situation.

Melissa: You definitely are an example of that. And as you shared earlier, I love your idea of not giving up on people.

Allison: Yeah, that's. That's another thing. Do not give up on people, no matter the situation.

Melissa: Well, Allison, thank you for the reminder to all of us what a nice, kind letter can do to anyone. And I know you've been featured in lots of different areas, but it's been an honor to have you here on the podcast.

Allison: Well, I'm glad to be here.

Melissa: That was my interview with Alison Bond, and as I said, it was just a great, candid conversation. I really felt like I got to know her and a little bit of her personality.

And I can see why the letters that she sends and the things that she does has inspired and lifted so many, because it's simply in just who she is and her desire to share that with the world.

So I am going to leave links to some of the things she mentioned if you want to support her. Like she said she could really especially use some donations through her PayPal to help her buy stamps so that she can keep sending these letters and doing the good that she's doing.

So go ahead and check out those links if you want to support her and her project.

And I want to give a friendly reminder that if you were inspired by this episode of the podcast or really any episode you've listened to, please share it with a friend or someone else who you think would benefit from what we talked about today.

Or you can follow or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Or of course, follow us on social media. And the links to those are also in the show notes.

And as always this week, I hope you can find a way to do something more to help lift, inspire, or make a difference.