Campus Cursive looks to bring Mercer more love letters

A new organization has written itself into Mercer’s list of organizations and extracurricular activities. Campus Cursive, an organization started by freshmen Rebecca Braun and Brittany Dorsey, is dedicated to writing love letters.

Campus Cursive is a branch of the The World Needs More Love Letters, an organization created by Hannah Brencher in 2011 that uses “the power behind social media to write and mail letters to strangers all over the world,” according to their website.

Braun said that she knew as a senior in high school that she wanted to start a Campus Cursive chapter at Mercer. After making sure Mercer did not already have a chapter, she began the process of starting one.

While talking to other students on campus about their interest in having a Campus Cursive chapter, she met Dorsey, who knows some of the executives that work for The World Needs More Love Letters.

“[After] we realized we had that in common, we decided to start the chapter together,” Braun said.

Braun drafted the organization’s constitution in September 2016 and applied to recieve a Bear Grant for funding.

“Everything moved along fairly quickly for the fact that I’ve never started a club and didn’t know how to do this,” Braun said. “It’s cool that as a freshman I have this ability to start something already and then to see it grow and to be a part of that process.”

Dorsey said she is also excited to be a part of the foundation of Campus Cursive.

“To me, having an organization like this means a cure for the epidemic that is loneliness. So many people in this world are struggling, and I believe letter writing is a twofold treatment,” Dorsey said.

Campus Cursive held their first meeting on Feb. 3. Their meetings for the rest of the semester will be held every other Friday in Knight Hall at 4:30 p.m. The meetings include music, writing and doughnuts, Braun said.  

The letters written at the meeting are mostly to Mercer students. “Mercer students can send letter requests on our Facebook or Twitter or e-mail and then we will write to them,” Braun said.

Braun said the requests made to Campus Cursive remain anonymous if the student chooses.

“We do ask that they have a little bit of a story saying why they need the letters or bundle, so people have something to write about that’s a little more specific to that person,” Braun said.

The organization has already received and delivered their first love letter bundle — a group of letters written in response to the requests for letters sent in by students.

Braun said the student that submitted the first request via Facebook thanked her for what she was doing through Campus Cursive.

“That just kind of validates it for me,” Braun said. “Mercer really does need this . . . every college campus needs this.”

Helping Braun and Dorsey out as leaders in the Campus Cursive organization are fellow students Dani Acosta, Darice Cujdoe and Lexie Stennett. The leaders don’t have official titles within the organization.

“We’re all on the same level. We’re all working on the same things,” Braun said.

As the leaders of Campus Cursive plan the events and letters to be written during the rest of the semester, Dorsey said, “I hope Mercer’s campus will be set on fire with love! Encouragement is catching, so I hope we can start a chain of events that eventually affects the whole student body.”