My Dear New Friend is a new movement, created by Alice Irwin, that encourages children and adults to use the power of letter writing to build new friendships and help members of the community support each other at this difficult time and beyond.
To date, thousands of children, families, schools and care homes across the UK have taken part in the movement, bringing happiness and comfort to those who are lonely or vulnerable during these challenging times. What's more, research by the National Literacy Trust shows that writing letters makes children feel happy, helps them express their feelings and supports their literacy skills.
The movement is growing all the time and we now wish to increase its impact and sustain the initiative so that it can become part of our national response to community connection now and in the future.
We are therefore fundraising to allow the National Literacy Trust to keep My Dear New Friend thriving and growing and responding to those who would love a letter from a dear new friend.
If you wish you support My Dear New Friend, you can do so in the following ways:
Take part! Visit literacytrust.org.uk/family-zone/mydearnewfriend for more details
Follow @mydearnewfriend on Instagram and Twitter and use #MyDearNewFriend
Make a donation on this page, or create your own fundraising activity to support the movement
The National Literacy Trust is a charity dedicated to improving the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills of disadvantaged children and families, giving them the best possible chance of success in school, work and life.
From delivering programmes in schools to supporting families in the community, conducting leading research to influencing policy change, the National Literacy Trust changes children's life stories.
Since the charity was founded in 1993, it has directly supported the literacy of more than 2 million children and young people across the UK.
In 2010, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall became Patron of the National Literacy Trust.
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.
