South Bay Teens Launch ‘Quarantine Kindness Grams’

LOS ALTOS, CA — Technology can help make a world of social distancing seem less lonely. Face Time, texting, messaging apps and emails can bring people half a world a way into your home.

But electronic communication can't replace the human touch.

That was the thinking behind a project a group of South Bay high school students started to make isolation feel less isolating.

Classmates sitting on Los Altos High School’s Associated Student Body organized an effort to send out “Quarantine Kindness Grams,” physical cards with thoughtful handwritten messages to friends they knew they wouldn’t see for the foreseeable future after the school shutdowns were announced amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Jimmy Dessouki, a Los Altos High junior who spearheaded the effort to boost spirits during the pandemic, told KRON he wanted to help his classmates express kindness in a way that was meaningful.

“Sure, you can text your friends that you miss them, but if they receive a heartfelt card in the mail, they’ll know you truly mean it,” Dessouki told KRON.

“Right now times are tough, people are scared, people are sad, they need a little bit of encouraging so I thought maybe we take this idea and we can expand it.”

The kindness grams borrowed a template that students at the school to send Valentines grams to each other. They created an online form to make it easier for fellow students to create the cards that included sample messages.

Dessouki told KRON he got 80 requests for kindness grams. His family helped him create the cards.

“I would write the messages on the inside and then the drawings was actually my grandma, she’s 80 years old and she needs some stuff to do to fill time during quarantine,” Dessouki said.

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