Monthly Archives: February 2015

Day 54: Margaret


Good morning! I was up a little too late watching the Oscars last night, but I’m up and writing my daily letter.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, on January 6th I sent a letter to the general manager of the Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, Virginia and asked him to consider extending a gift certificate I had for a stay at their hotel. Well, what do you know? This past week I got a letter from a member of his staff along with an updated gift certificate with an extension. Very cool!

Thank you Hotel Monaco!!!

Day 5152-3

Dear Margaret,

Day 5152-4I received your letter this week in the mail. Thank you so much for your thoughtful extension of my gift certificate. I am looking forward to my stay at the Hotel Monaco Alexandria.

With gratitude,
Reed Sandridge

Week 8 Notes and Letters

A great week for the Year of Letters. I received three responses in the mail – well sorta.

First, I received a letter from Caroline Fraser Zinsser. Her husband, William Zinsser, was the recipient of my 22nd letter. Now 92, the authority on writing well for the past half century, is now blind she explained to me and unable to reply, but she offered his phone number and let me know that I could call him. Wow! I haven’t called yet, I am not sure what I would tell him other than I think he’s a genius but he doesn’t need me wasting his time to tell him that.

Week 8Second, I received a letter from Margaret at the Hotel Monaco regarding my letter to General Manager Mart Hurlburt on January 6th requesting that my gift certificate for a one-night stay in their Alexandria, VA hotel be extended – I let it expire. She kindly offered to grant me the extension – thank you Margaret and thank you to Hotel Monaco!!! I’m a big fan of their hotels, but I have yet to stay in their Alexandria property so I am looking forward to that.

The last response I received wasn’t really a response I guess. You may remember that on Day 35 I wrote a letter to Jayson Werth of the Washington Nationals. He was serving a short sentence in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center for a reckless driving incident last year. I figured he would have some free time to read my letter – but I don’t believe he ever saw it. My letter had been opened, inspected, taped shut and returned to me.

Finally, I want to congratulate Katy from Day 22. She was the co-producer of Citizenfour – the Edward Snowden documentary that took home the Oscar tonight for Best Documentary. She’s amazing.

Get ready for another week of handwritten letters. Do you have someone you think I should write? Let me know. And how about you, when is the last time you penned a handwritten letter to someone. Try to write at least one this week – you’ll be glad you did!

Day 52: Aunt Kay

It’s cold outside here in DC – perfect weather for letter-writing!

My aunt has very nice penmanship.

My aunt has very nice penmanship.

I think this is my fourth letter to the state of Oklahoma. There are two dozen states that I haven’t written even once. My unscientific hypothesis is that Oklahomans like to write letters.

Earlier this week I got a nice handwritten note from my Aunt Kay who lives outside of Oklahoma City. She was in DC for nearly a month helping to care for her brother who has had some health problems. I got to see her a few times while she was in DC and enjoyed very much the time we spent together.

I wrote back to her this morning.

Day 52

Dear Aunt Kay,

What a pleasant surprise to find your card in my mailbox today. I very much enjoyed spending time with you when you were here in Washington. You’re probably glad you are not here now – we got about four inches of snow and it has been terribly cold. I picked up lunch (Thai) on Saturday – actually it was Sunday – and visited with Haeworth. He seemed good and I enjoyed our conversation. I stopped by on Tuesday and dropped off some ice-cream that he likes from Glen’s Garden Mkt: Steve’s Small Batch Bourbon Vanilla.

I hope that you a had a good visit with Doug – I bet that was nice to have him home. Give Ted a hug for me – I hope he’s doing ok. Let me know when you might be back in town – I look forward to that.

Love,
Jason
PS – Yes, believe it or not, Haeworth & I have different zip codes.

Day 51: Ms. Brennan, US Postmaster General

On this day in 1792, President George Washington signed the Postal Service Act which created the U.S. Postal Service and outlined the congressional power to establish mail routes. So, it seemed appropriate to write to our new Postmaster General. Megan Brennan took over the 500,000 employee organization on February 1st.

 

Day 51

Dear Ms. Brennan,

Congratulations on becoming the 74th, and first female, Postmaster General!

Today marks the 223rd anniversary of President George Washington signing the Postal Service Act into law and outlining the congressional power to establish mail routes in our country. In observance of this occasion, I took this opportunity to reflect on our postal system and the how it has changed in the recent years.

I’m just another one of your 300 million customers. That said, I’m responsible for generating at least one first class single piece mail item every day (you’re welcome). I know that’s not much when you consider the 513 million mail pieces that you deliver every day, but perhaps I can suggest a way to increase your first class single piece mail business.

Day 51I’ve committed to sending one handwritten letter every day for a year – you’re Day 51. Many people tell me that they have been inspired by my project to write more letters. This is a good thing for you. Now, my platform isn’t such that the ripples of my project alone are likely to make a noticeable difference for you, but from someone who specializes in helping organizations strategically use story to achieve business objectives, I see an opportunity for you to invest in nontraditional marketing efforts to fuel more of these kinds of endeavors. It’s not that Americans lack a desire to write and send letters, we lack inspiration. And inspiration can be created.

Just an idea. If you share my vision that an opportunity exists and want to explore this further, you know where to find me.

Sincerely,
Reed Sandridge

PS. I grew up “down the road” from you in Mechanicsburg.

Day 50: Anthony


Today is a special day – five years ago today I met today’s recipient. He was sleeping on the streets, selling the Street Sense newspaper to make enough money to survive. That was then. Now Anthony has his own efficiency apartment, works to pay his bills and cheers on the Steelers during football season.

8407027864_edadca6d42_k

Some of you that follow my other blogs know Anthony already, but if you don’t you can read about the day I met him here or the day he found housing here or a recent national television news story on him that ran in January.

I’m supposed to meet up with him today but that might not happen as today is supposed to be the coldest day we’ve had this year. We might just enjoy a phone call today and postpone our lunch today until next week.

Day 50-4

Dear Anthony,

Today marks five years since you and I met on the snow-covered corner of 19th and M. I remember the day very well – Day 67 of my Year of Giving. You’ve come a long way since that day – I’m very proud of you getting off the streets and into housing and working hard to pay your rent so that you can keep your apartment.

Your friendship means a lot to me and I don’t take it for granted. It’s been a great five years and I’m looking forward to the next five and many more after that.

I love you Brother,
Reed