A birthday box lined with popcorn and filled with jewelry, makeup and Swedish candy addressed to Phoebe Measer of Los Angeles arrived on time for a cherub celebrating her 17th birthday 2,000 miles from home.
“I’m usually with my family on my birthday, so I was a little unsure about how it would be being away from my parents for the first time on my birthday,” Measer said. “It was such a special birthday.”
The packages that line the stage of 217 Fisk Hall in the afternoon are a highlight of many cherubs’ days. Traveling hundreds or thousands of miles away from home can seem scary, but letters, care packages and Amazon boxes help make it a little easier.
For some cherubs, like Pepper Chai of Alameda, California, the packages made up for airline snafus.
“My mom had to mail me my toothbrush, my hair dryer, some clothes. It was a bunch of random things,” Chai said. “I got, like, nine packages on the first day, basically.”
But mostly, old-fashioned mail just felt special. Iris Mrosovsky from Queens, New York, received a surprise care package from her grandparents filled with hair clips, perfume, a notebook, a card, body wash, a Hawaiian T-shirt, a pen and a spray hand sanitizer. She received another package with baked goods from her grandparents a few days later.
“It was just really nice to get a package from them because I don’t see them too often,” Mrosovsky said. “I really miss them.”
Shona Karp from Pennington, New Jersey, has received four handwritten letters from her parents with updates from home, good luck wishes and a graphic that said: “I’m your biggest fan.”
“I love letters, like, that’s my love language, so receiving handwritten notes is so fun and cute for me,” Karp said. “It makes me feel like I’m at home… It’s super sweet.”
