In our childhood, many of us spent countless hours creating cards for our loved ones. What if after a dreadful day of classes, you could go and create a card that could put a smile on a stranger’s face?

Quinnipiac University’s Cards for Care is a student organization in its second year where students can make greeting cards that are distributed to hospital patients. Cards for Care has worked with several hospitals in Connecticut like Danbury Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital, Reston Hospital Center and sent virtual cards for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Sadia Ali, a senior health science studies major, founded the organization. Before she started the organization, Ali worked in a nursing home as a certified nursing assistant during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She noticed the no-visitor policy at the time took a toll on the patients, so a card could go on a long way.

“The residents of the nursing home were really sad and lonely,” Ali said. “Their family visit is what they would look forward to every week, but they weren’t allowed to have that anymore. I just was thinking about how we can still make an impact on people that might (be) stuck at the hospital (or) stuck in a nursing home.”

Katie Riley, a senior health science studies major and vice president of Cards for Care, admires how low maintenance the organization is, but said the sentiment goes a long way.

“You can make a card and leave within 10 minutes, but yet, you’re still making the impact which is really cool,” Riley said. “We also have people make cards, like on their own time, and then drop it off to us. If they don’t have time for the meetings. I really like that aspect of our club.”

Cards for Care is an organization where students can give back to the community without having to fulfill certain obligations. Ali noted the organization is accessible to students who are unable to travel, “you don’t have to leave, you stay on campus.”

Riley noted that Cards for Care makes her feel like “a proud mama.” When she delegates meetings, she looks forward to seeing the creativity that comes out of members.

“All of the meetings are so fun because everyone makes really good cards, we have a lot of artistic people that come,” Riley said.

The organization’s coordination team actively looks for new places to deliver whether it’s local nursing homes to children’s pediatrics centers. Ali said she plans to do more than cards in the future.

“I was thinking we can do like care packages instead of plain cards,” Ali said. “If we do period kits for a women’s shelter. Even though it is great, giving the cards, it is really nice, and it does put smiles on people’s faces. But, maybe seeing if we can do something a little more than that would be really nice.”