Send a Letter. Make Someone Smile

A collage of seniors holding handmade cards and colourful drawings from Smile Carrier.

Students can earn volunteer hours by writing letters or cards for seniors who may be feeling isolated or alone.

Teachers, classrooms, and community members are also welcome to get involved.

Earn Volunteer Hours with Smile Carrier

High school students can earn community volunteer hours by writing letters or cards for seniors who may be feeling isolated or alone.

This is a flexible opportunity that can be completed from home.

Once we receive your letters, we will review the hours requested to make sure they are reasonable for the work completed. We can then sign your volunteer form and email it back to you.

Start Writing Letters

How to Write a Letter

Write a kind letter or card to brighten a senior’s day.

A handwritten letter with two photographs and a plush teddy bear. One photo shows a sunset over water with the text "Difficult Roads Often Lead to Beautiful Destinations." The other photo shows a sunset with the text "Positive Mind, Positive Vibes, Positive Life." The teddy bear is holding pink flowers and is placed on top of the letter.

1. What Can You Write?

Create a kind letter, card, drawing, artwork, or thoughtful message for a senior. You can include:

Say something about yourself
your school, hobbies, pets, or interests
a cheerful story, joke, riddle, poem, memory, or fun fact
artwork, drawings, or other flat items that can fit in an envelope
handwritten, typed, or use blank cards (dollar store works great)
you can print copies and make more
Anything that could make someone smile!

Colorful, hand-colored illustrations of various scenic landscapes and landmarks, including a fairy-tale village with treehouses, a waterfall with lush greenery, a famous yellow submarine, and Ferris wheels, with some elements featuring British flags and iconic architecture.

2. Letter Guidelines

Please keep your letter:

kind, cheerful, general, and uplifting
non-seasonal, so it can be mailed any time of year
not dated
appropriate for any senior recipient
personal and thoughtful, like a real message from one person to another

Inspirational quotes are okay to include, but they should not be the whole message. Try to include something written in your own voice.

3. What to Avoid

Please avoid including:

personal contact information
addresses, phone numbers, emails, or social media handles
controversial topics
personal drama
anything asking the recipient to respond

A blank envelope with a Canadian postage stamp in the top right corner.

4. Prepare Your Envelope

Place your card in an envelope

Please:

leave the envelope blank
do not write anything on the envelope
do not seal the envelope

Leave the address area blank; we will affix the recipient’s mailing address

Add a Canadian stamp on the outside (if you can’t provide one, no worries—we’ll add it after submission)

If you are requesting volunteer hours, please keep track of the time you spend creating your letters, cards, drawings, or artwork.

As a general guideline, a detailed card or letter with a written message and artwork may take about 30 minutes, depending on the care, detail, and effort involved.

5. Volunteer Hours

This is a community involvement activity form with sections for proposing and completing a community activity, including fields for contact information, location, hours, signatures, and official use.

6. Before You Submit

Attach to your bundle of letters:

your email
your name
the number of volunteer hours you are requesting
your school board’s community service form (filled in) for me to sign off and return via email

Need a confirmation letter instead of a form? Smile Carrier can provide one by email. Please let us know what information to include.

A cardboard box with a yellow sign attached to it, indicating it is a Smile Carrier for home drop-off. The sign includes a QR code and a message about sending smiles by mail.

7. Submit Your Letters

Drop off at:

📍 4380 South Service Rd, Upper Unit 6, Burlington, ON L7L 5Y6
Monday-Friday, 8:00 am -4:00 pm

Unit 6 is labelled Desjardins, TechElectric.
Look for a box inside the door to deposit your letters

If you are too far from the drop-off location, you may be able to mail your letters instead. Please email smilecarrier3@gmail.com to request the mailing address, as it is different from the drop-off location.

After your letters are dropped off, they will be picked up and reviewed along with any volunteer hours requested.

Once your letters and hours are reviewed, your form can be signed, scanned, and emailed back to you.

You are welcome to email smilecarrier3@gmail.com after dropping off your letters to let us know they have been submitted. Letters are generally picked up on weekdays, not weekends.

You can also continue making and submitting more letters in the future!

8. After You Submit

Request a Recipient

Know someone who could use a smile?

If you know a senior who may enjoy receiving letters, please complete the form below. Recipient information will be kept private and used only for Smile Carrier mail.

A senior collecting Smile Carrier letters from an outdoor mailbox.

Register a Residence or Organization to Receive Letters

If you work with seniors or individuals who would enjoy receiving Smile Carrier mail, please complete the form below. We send letters, cards, and drawings to help brighten someone’s day.

Recipient information will be kept private and used only for Smile Carrier mail.

Group of five elderly people holding thank you cards and letters, smiling in a cozy living room with a table full of cards, letters, and a potted plant.

For Schools & Educators

Smile Carrier is a simple and meaningful activity for classrooms, school clubs, student councils, and school-wide initiatives.

Students can write letters, create cards, or draw pictures for seniors who may be feeling isolated or alone. It is an easy way to practise writing, encourage kindness, and help students give back to the community.

Examples of Ways to Participate

Letter writing activity
Students can practice letter writing and proper letter format while creating kind messages for seniors.
Card or Drawing Activity
Students can create cards, drawings, or simple messages to brighten someone’s day.
School Club Activity
Clubs can use Smile Carrier as a meeting activity by creating cards or letters together.

How to Participate

Have students write letters, cards, or drawings
Place letters in envelopes if possible
Leave the address area blank
Drop off or submit letters as a class bundle

Melania, manager of Smile Carrier, smiling while holding handmade cards.

About Smile Carrier

Smile Carrier was founded by Yolanda after she noticed how much seniors could look forward to receiving mail, especially those who may be living alone or feeling isolated.

What began as a simple idea has grown into a community initiative where students, classrooms, and volunteers create letters, cards, drawings, and kind messages for seniors.

Smile Carrier is now managed by Melania, who is excited to continue the initiative and help it grow. Through volunteering with seniors, she has seen how impactful thoughtful gestures can be and hopes to help more seniors feel valued and connected.

Our mission is to bring small moments of connection to seniors through thoughtful letters, cards, and messages from the community.

Want to get involved?

Help brighten someone’s day by sending a letter or signing up someone who could use a smile.

Send a Letter

Request a Recipient

Frequently Asked Questions

Smile Carrier will attach a mailing label of a recipient. It will be put into a Canada Post mailbox. There will be a return address with our website and the office address in Burlington.
There are two types of recipients:
1. Recipients are people who are alone in their own home. They will get mail through Canada Post addressed with their name, that was originated from Smile Carrier.
2. Recipients can be residents of group long-term care home in the area. At Smile Carrier we collect those letters without stamps and deliver in a batch.
Smile Carrier now accepts letters from anywhere in Canada. In addition to local drop-off, we also offer a mailing option for volunteers who are farther away. As long as letters can reach us, we are happy to accept them. Recipients can also live anywhere in Canada.
No. This site keeps the recipients’ personal information private. We are not matching people to create pen pals.
No. You do not need to apply before starting. As long as you follow the instructions on our website, Instagram, or Volunteer Halton/Volunteer Connector posting, you are welcome to begin creating letters, cards, drawings, or kind messages for seniors.
Once your letters are complete, you can submit them by drop-off or mail. If you are requesting volunteer hours, please make sure to include your email address, the number of hours you are requesting, and any volunteer form that needs to be signed.
Yes. If you are too far from the drop-off location, you may be able to mail your letters instead. Please email smilecarrier3@gmail.com to request the mailing address, as it is different from the drop-off location.
If you are mailing multiple letters, you can bundle them together in one larger stamped envelope or package to save on postage.
Please keep track of the time you spend creating your letters or cards. As a general guideline, a detailed card with a written message and artwork may take about 30 minutes, depending on the care and detail involved.
If you do not have a school volunteer form, or if you are not completing this for school hours but still need confirmation, Smile Carrier can provide a confirmation letter by email. Please email us what information needs to be included.
After your letters are dropped off, they will be picked up and reviewed along with the hours requested. Once reviewed, your form can be signed, scanned, and emailed back to you.
Please make sure to include your email address and the number of volunteer hours you are requesting when you submit your letters.
Yes. If your school uses an online system to confirm volunteer hours, Smile Carrier can verify your hours through that system instead of signing a physical form.
When you submit your letters, please include your email address, the number of hours you are requesting, and any instructions needed to complete the online verification. If the school system sends an email request to Smile Carrier, please use smilecarrier3@gmail.com as the contact email.
Hours will be verified after your letters are received and reviewed.

Your letter should feel personal, thoughtful, and written in your own voice. You can share a little about yourself, your hobbies, school, pets, a cheerful story, a memory, a joke, a riddle, a poem, fun facts, or kind words.
Inspirational quotes are okay to include, but they should not be the whole message. Smile Carrier letters should feel like they are coming from a real person, not just a quote card.
Please avoid dates, seasonal messages, personal contact information, addresses, phone numbers, social media handles, controversial topics, personal drama, or anything asking the recipient to respond.
Yes. You can design cards digitally using Canva or another program, but they must be printed and physically submitted because Smile Carrier sends physical mail to seniors.
There is no maximum. You can make as many as you would like.
There is no set deadline. You can work at your own pace and submit letters when they are ready.
No. Please do not seal the envelopes. If possible, place each letter or card in its own envelope, but leave the envelope blank and unsealed. Smile Carrier will add the recipient’s mailing address after the letters are received.
Stamps are appreciated but not required if you are dropping off your letters. Smile Carrier can add stamps before mailing the letters to seniors.
Yes. You can continue making and submitting more letters, cards, drawings, or kind messages in the future. Smile Carrier is always happy to receive more letters, cards, drawings, or kind messages for seniors.
Volunteer forms and hours are reviewed after the letters are received and picked up from the drop-off location. Please allow some time for your letters to be picked up, reviewed, and for your form to be signed and returned.
If you email smilecarrier3@gmail.com to let us know that you have dropped off your letters, we will do our best to review them as quickly as possible and can update you on when they are expected to be picked up and verified. Please note that letters are generally picked up on weekdays, not weekends.
Yes. Please feel free to email smilecarrier3@gmail.com if you have any questions about writing letters, preparing your submission, volunteer hours, forms, drop-off, or mailing.