In the wake of the 2016 election results, many of us are feeling lost as to what we can do both to feel better and to help those around us. One great idea that's been circulating social media is to send Hillary Clinton a thank you card. That's right: A good old-fashioned thank you card, sent via snail mail. None of this tweeting at her or emailing into the abyss of her campaign, but a real, stamped envelope. While we, of course, can't write to her personal residence, we can write to a P.O. Box she has set up in New York, and if you ask me, that's pretty darn amazing.
Clinton's P.O. Box is going viral across social media, thanks largely to young adult author Heidi Heilig. Heilig is the author of two YA books, The Girl From Everywhere (out now) and The Ship Beyond Time (out in March 2017), and works to diversify publishing and write inclusive stories. Heilig tweeted Clinton's mailing address early Wednesday morning, and her tweet alone has a several thousand "likes" and retweets already. This same information is also popping up in other places on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms. You can write a thank you note or letter to Hillary at the following address:
The 36-year-old pansexual, biracial author supports Clinton for the presidency, and has always been "incredibly impressed" by her grace, poise, and knowledge of policy, as she tells Bustle in an interview. To Heilig, writing to Clinton is meaningful on a personal level: she explains that it's "a small way to give back to someone who stood strong and faced extreme, outsides, and irrational hatred as she tried to defend our country from a racist, misogynist xenophobe."
Heilig acknowledges, too, that writing to Hillary is important even for people not yet old enough to vote. "The young people of color, the queer youth, teen girls — they are the ones who will suffer most and longest from the repercussions of a Trump presidency, which might include the nomination of more than one Supreme Court Justice," she says. "And yet these young people — being under 18 — didn't even have the right to vote. Writing to Hillary might be one way they can make their voices heard when it comes to politics."
If you're wondering why this matters, or why it's worth the effort to actually track down an envelope and a stamp, remember this: Many, many people who are disenfranchised did not have the option to actually vote in this election. Many people who are not citizens of this country, but do live here, did not have the right to vote. Many children, including young women and non-binary people, supported Hillary but did not have the right to vote. Sending her mail is an excellent way to help people connect to a candidate they believed in and supported, even if they weren't able to vote for whatever reason.
Sending Hillary a thank you note or letter is also an excellent way of showing your support even if you did actually vote for her. While we all seek different kinds of self-care after stressful and emotional periods, including this election, writing a heartfelt thank you letter to your candidate of choice is never a bad idea, especially when social media helps to make that avenue so very simple.
Images: Giphy
