A new outreach project from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is relying on the creative skills of local Catholic kids to bring Easter hope to those still suffering from COVID-19-induced isolation.

Cards of Hope is an initiative of the Catholic Communication Collaboration (C3) Maker Initiative’s Thinker Tank group. The idea: To harness the imagination and engineering talents of elementary-aged children in school and parish programs across the archdiocese to create pop-up greeting cards with Easter-themed messages of encouragement. 

The 3D handmade greetings are sent to the office of the Vicar for Women Religious, which coordinates their distribution by women religious to the many in need whom they serve. 

“Easter is a wonderful opportunity to promote family faith in the home, and parents have been asking if they can participate with their children on an activity,” said Douglas E. Zuniga, Coordinator of Elementary Catechesis for the archdiocese. “The answer is ‘of course, yes!’ 

“There are many elderly still locked down for many months, with limited visitors, including sisters who are isolated in their own convents afraid of the virus,” he explained. 

The initiative is the brainchild of Gretchen Castello, who oversees C3’s “Mobile Maker” team. She said the card idea comes at a time in which the do-it-yourself world of Cricut Maker cards is exploding in popularity with the help of social media, and notes there are hands-on geometry and physics lessons to be learned from making cards that come alive with accordion-folded paper, tissue paper and glue.

“There are no wrong ways to do this,” Castello said. “They just need very basic tools. This is showing them how to figure things out and giving the basic tools so they can bring the creativity. It’s about generating fun and the love of making.”

Full story at Angelus News.