Hi everyone!

I’ve been writing to Shanon, who is incarcerated in Texas, for over a year. We met through Black & Pink, which is a program that matches queer people who are incarcerated with queer people outside. Last year I got a bunch of my friends to send Shanon holiday cards and we got her set up with some stamps for a while, and she was SO grateful. She was really touched that people that didn’t know her cared about someone inside.

I thought it would be amazing if some folks from here wanted to send her a card. You can send them to me, and I’ll bundle them up and send them to her. She likes dogs, reading books, and we have shared our holiday meal traditions with each other, just a few ideas to write about.

Some guidelines:

• NO stickers
• NO washi

• nothing that is many layers glued together (even if it’s a store-bought card - I’ve had cards rejected because they think something is hidden in the layers)

• paper perfume samples are allowed and welcome (the kind you tear out of a magazine)

• feel free to write a note saying you know me through an online community, and include as much or as little about yourself as you’d like

• aim to have them to me by Dec 1st if possible - it takes a bit of time for them to process mail, so it would be good to have a little lead time [Edit: if you want to send one but won’t make it by 12/1, that’s fine! I’ll send them in two bundles, an early mailing and a later mailing.]

If you want to know about getting your own penpal, feel free to drop me a line! Thanks for considering doing this! *Edit: In case it wasn’t clear, you don’t have to be queer to send a card. :)