SELLERSBURG, Ind. — An eight-year-old boy is sending smiles to seniors in nursing homes across Southern Indiana.
With schools closed and social distancing recommended across the country, Cooper Townsend used his free time to create 186 cards to give to those that can’t have visitors.
“I think it makes everybody happy,” he said.
Cooper handled the coloring, while his mother, Amanda Townsend put a special message inside each one.
“It says, 'We hope this card will brighten your day,'” she explained. “We just wanted to make people smile and know there's people thinking about them and we don't know how long this is going to last, it could last months. We know you're in there and can't have visitors but, just wanted to do something nice for people,” Townsend said.
Keeping their distance, Townsend dropped envelopes off at Traditions at Hunter Station in Sellersburg and Riverview Village in Clarksville.
Vanessa Lewis, who works at Riverview Village, handed them out.
“Every single one of them smiled,” she said. “There wasn't a resident in the building that wasn't interested and they all loved it you know, like what a sweet little boy making all those cards.”
Cooper has always had an interest in art, but this time, he passed it along with some positivity during the pandemic. He hopes it will inspire others to do the same.
“I think they could do this to be nice to people.”
► Contact reporter Heather Fountaine at hfountaine@whas11.com and follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Heather) and Facebook.