Recently I shared my idea for having kids write a “reverse Santa letter.” I’m calling it The Hero Writing Project.

Have the kids in your life write a “Hero Letter” to all the brave hospital heroes on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic right now.  It’s essentially a reverse Santa letter because instead of asking Santa for something, they can give something back, instead, to their fellow Americans.

In this case it’s a letter of respect, admiration and appreciation to a hospital medical staff. Your amazing kid can research, write, edit, draw, address, stamp and then mail a letter of love and appreciation to the medical professionals who are on the front lines of this pandemic.

Those folks sure do need encouragement right now. They need love. They need us to let them know we support them and think they rock.

Doctors, nurses, medical techs and even the custodians and cafeteria workers are seriously in the middle of it right now, and everyone on the front lines will appreciate love from your kid.

Choose one of our hometown hospitals or send your letters and drawings to a hospital in one of the cities that have been hardest hit, like NYC, LA, New Orleans, Chicago or Detroit. It’s very rough in those places right now.

My suggestion is to address it like so:

NAME OF HOSPITAL

Attention: Hospital Heroes

ADDRESS

CITY, STATE
ZIP

Kids might consider using phrases like “Thank you, heroes” or “You totally rock.” Other phrases could include “You are my hero,” “You are brave,” “We love you” and “Thank you.“

Your kids can draw pictures, write words of thanks, cut and paste – whatever they think is appropriate. Just let your kid show appreciation for the courage and dedication our friends across America are showing right now.

Be sure to have them sign it, but only use their first name. That’s enough.

I’m calling this The Hero Writing Project because kids get to experience vicariously the heroism of the people on the front lines. They must imagine what all the hospital heroes are going through right now. They can feel pretty good about sending love and support to those who need it.

We often forget the only reason the experiment called “America” works is because people are willing to do two things: be selfish and not be selfish.

America is an idea, and it’s propped up by two simple choices we make. Sometimes we work only for ourselves; other times we work for each other.

If we choose to only work as individuals and take on no civic responsibility, we are choosing to abandon other Americans who need us, and the experiment that is the United States of America falls apart.

We Americans can be a cantankerous bunch. We are serious about our freedom to do “whatever we darn well please” whenever we “darn well please.” We are individuals, and we like it that way.

We want to be as free and independent as possible, but here’s the dark underbelly of that proposition: It only works if we unselfishly work for each other when needed.

The whole system only works if, when we are needed, we answer the call.

Human society is not solo, single, solitary – it’s collective. The machinery that allows freedom is interdependence.   

Right now everyone, not just the hospital heroes, is facing financial hardship, fear, disruption, stress, confusion and so much more. Right now, more than ever, is teamwork time.

Do you have the strength to do your part? Do you have the strength to do what America needs you to do right now?   

Good. Stay home. Social distance if you must get groceries, medicine or food. Show, by example, that you can do the things heroes do when it’s important and when it’s needed.

This is important. The time is now. Make the American experiment work.

Writing a Hero Letter as part of The Hero Writing Project is a really positive way to have your kids respond to all the craziness of life right now and to do their part.  Once your kids have mailed that “care package,” they can feel pretty good about doing their part – and so can you.

Rockin’ Eco Hero Steve Trash tours the planet teaching children about their connection to nature through magic, music and comedy. He has his own PBS Kids science show called STEVE TRASH SCIENCE. He lives with his wife and dogs in Frog Pond. For more visit www.stevetrash.com.