With contact from the outside world limited, residents at one County Down care home had a simple request: Will you be my pen pal?
Photos of 11 residents at Brooklands, in Kilkeel, along with a list of their likes and hobbies were posted on Facebook two months ago.
Since then, they have received more than 1,000 letters from around the world.
There were plenty of things to talk about.
Norman likes bingo, bowls and colouring in while Kathleen wanted to be pen pals with someone who likes Irish singer Daniel O'Donnell.
Madge enjoys getting her hair done and crocheting while Eddie loves chocolate, and Teresa likes knitting while sipping on a cup of tea with a few sneaky biscuits.
"We couldn't believe the reaction," Brooklands' activities coordinator Laura Clerkin told BBC News NI.
"The whole thing just blew up, it was amazing.
"There was such a range in ages of people getting involved which was lovely too. We had everyone from children aged seven or eight, right up to people in college, adults, other nursing home residents and retired people."
She added: "One resident said she loves animals and she has been sent lots of photos of people's animals which she has loved, others have had gifts sent to them to do with their hobbies, like knitting, or the things they said they liked, such as chocolate.
"It's just nice to have been able to do something so positive in the middle of all of this madness."
Ms Clerkin admits there was a little bit of confusion when the letters started to pour in.
"When the letters came in, they were placed in a big envelope and taken to each resident and, at the very beginning, some of them wanted to know how this had happened and how did anyone know where they lived.
"They are from a different generation, they don't really understood social media, so we had to explain to them how it worked at first but they all loved it once they realised people were writing to them and wanted to know more about their lives."
Brooklands closed to visitors in March in response to Covid-19.
A few months later, it reopened, but only for about a week and a half as cases in the local community started to rise and so Brooklands was forced to close again to keep residents safe.
"So, from March to November, we have only been open for a week and a half and even then time was restricted and there were social distancing measures in place and that has been very difficult for our residents," said Ms Clerkin.
"Everyone is doing their best to keep them occupied and happy and they're all doing great. They've been having video calls and chats with family through the windows and they all have TVs but coming into Christmas things are obviously going to feel very different.
"Thankfully these cards have definitely helped to raise spirits."
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November 08, 2020 at 01:43PM
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County Down care home residents make pen pals around the world - BBC News
"care" - Google News
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