Red and pink construction paper covered in markers, glue sticks and scissors cover tables as DePaul students are hard at work cutting perfect hearts and creating unique Valentine’s Day cards.

Although, this isn’t your typical valentine.

These cards aren’t being perfected for partners or gifted to their galentines, they’re being sent to sick children in hospitals.

Letters of Love is a global nonprofit that uses handcrafted cards to offer emotional support to children who are facing life-threatening illnesses. DePaul’s chapter was founded in 2023 and has gained popularity since. On Feb. 2, they hosted their Valentine’s Day event, bringing students together to create special notes for hospitals across the country.

Most students that participate found the organization through the school’s involvement fairs.

Ananya Nagareshwara, junior and president of DePaul’s Letters of Love group, first heard about the group at the involvement fair her freshman year. She was the outreach chair on the executive board as a sophomore before taking over as president last fall. She says that the purpose of the organization is to focus on making kids in hospitals feel loved and supported.

“I know that it’s hard for kids who are in children’s hospitals, and they’re kind of disconnected from the outside world,” Nagareshwara said. “It’s a really easy way for them to connect and find some joy in some simple things.”

As president, she sends the cards her group makes to Letters of Love’s headquarters in Minnesota where they receive cards from over 18 different countries and distribute them to over 60 hospitals.

Nagareshwara says it’s important for the chapter to focus on ensuring the cards aren’t reflective of the children’s time in the hospital and simply spread joy and kindness. Many people attend the meetings for that very reason.

DePaul student Merah Almassad is a frequent attendee of Letters of Love events. She’s a health science major because she “ultimately wants to help people,” and fits right in with the chapter.

She beamed and laughed while crafting her Valentine’s cards and said while she barely knew about the club prior to this year, after starting to attend she’s only missed one event.

“Something about me is that I love spreading love,” Almassad said.

She hopes in the future the group can go to hospitals or shelters and pass out cards to connect with the people they’re helping and prioritize human interaction, something she believes college students should do more of. She says sitting with friends and doing something to give back as an activity allows her to reconnect.

Connecting is one of the things the group does best, often collaborating on events with other groups that align with their mission. Two weeks ago, the group held an event with DePaul’s Kappa Gamma Delta chapter, which is a pre-health sorority. The two groups came together to create winter themed cards.Their creations featured Snoopy in Santa hats, penguins, snowglobes and more.

Current outreach chair Dania Dweik thinks these collaborations are the best way to bring in new attendees and has noticed a rise in attendance this year compared to last. 

“We’ve been doing a lot more collabs so we get definitely a lot more attendance,” Dweik said. “I think you see a lot of different people … and they enjoy themselves and they have a nice time.”

Her favorite event was a collaboration they did with DePaul’s Palestine Children’s Relief Fund last November, which she says was their most-attended event so far this year.

Dweik also found the group through the involvement fair and usually stayed in the back during the first few meetings she attended, but the mission of the club kept her coming back.

“I think the work that Letters of Love does is really great,” she said.

The group hosts hour-long meetings monthly on top of their many collaboration events, which are always open to everyone. People who are interested in their events can keep up with the organization through their Instagram, which is where they solely promote their meetings.

Almassad, the event attendee, agrees with Dweik and recommends the events to anyone that’s interested in meeting new people, having a good time, hoping to connect with their inner child and ultimately giving back.

She’s also a strong advocate for the events being open to all people and genders. She says that although many people think about love as feminine, they often have a large male attendance at events. Beyond everything, she describes the event as not just being about love, but instead about being caring, affectionate, vulnerable and acknowledging that there’s people in less fortunate positions.

“I think it’s a safe space and it’s really kind,” Almassad said. “It takes nothing to write a note. It’s such a small way to just lighten someone’s day.”

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