Minnesota woman uses handmade cards to help friends through tough times

A person making cards.
(Image credit: iStock)

Phone calls and emails are nice, but to Mary Jane Steinhagen, nothing beats a card with a handwritten message.

For the last 25 years, the Richfield, Minnesota, resident has made her own cards and sent them out to people in need of an uplifting message, to show that there's someone thinking of them. Steinhagen got the idea in 1997, after she mailed a member of her Bible study a card following the death of her husband. A few months later, the woman told Steinhagen that she was so moved by the card, which arrived at a time when she needed compassion the most.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.