Hadlee Card’s idea of passing out Valentine’s Day cards to a few friends turned into a community event with more than 200 children participating. Photo by Sarah Card.When six-year-old Hadlee Card realized that she wouldn’t be able to exchange Valentine’s Day cards with her classmates this year, she asked her mom, Sarah Card, for permission to pass out Valentine’s Day cards to kids in the community.
Sarah reached out to her friends, via a Facebook post, and asked if their children would be interested in exchanging cards too. Nearly 40 moms responded to Sarah’s post.
Due to the positive response Sarah received, she created a Canyon Lake Valentine’s Day Facebook group and invited other families in the community to participate in the exchange. More than 200 children signed up to participate.
“I thought Hadlee was going to exchange Valentine’s Day cards with a few of her friends in the community, but this turned into something much bigger,” Sarah said. “Hadlee’s special Valentine’s idea grew into something even more amazing than she imagined. I’m so proud of her and her huge heart.”
Jocelynn, Brantley, and Everleigh Usary display their Valentine’s Day card boxes on a decorative table. Photo by Victoria Usary.Due to the popularity of the exchange, Sarah organized the participants into classroom-sized groups and then assigned each group to a section of the community.
Each participant was asked to place a box on their porch so that the exchange can be done while social distancing. Most of the children customized their porch boxes.
Participants were asked to deliver their cards in the porch boxes anytime from February 12 through February 14 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m.
After seeing the joy that the exchange brought to her daughter and other children in the community, Sarah is considering organizing a similar event for Easter. “We would use the same concept for Easter,” Sarah said. “Each participant would place a basket on their porch to receive filled Easter eggs from other children in the community.”
