Buckeye Love celebration kicks off with ‘Cookies and Cards’ event at Ohio State

As part of The Ohio State University’s monthlong Buckeye Love celebration, faculty, staff and students gathered at the Ohio Union on Thursday and crafted handmade cards to give to friends and loved ones. “Cookies and Cards with Cheryl” was organized by the Office of Student Life in observance of National Make a Card for a Friend Day.

Throughout the month, Ohio State students, faculty and staff will perform random acts of kindness through a host of campus events. Many will involve surprising people with treats and expressions of gratitude. There will also be signs with uplifting messages featuring compliments, encouragement and ideas for sharing kindness across campus.

Members of the Buckeye community who participated in the event worked alongside Cheryl Lyons, director of Student Life Disability Services. This year marked the first “Cookies and Cards with Cheryl” Buckeye Love event, said Tracy Stuck, assistant vice president of Student Life.

“Cheryl is a really good card-maker, so we devised a program for her,” Stuck said. “She makes cards for everyone, and we decided to use our staff talents to make this a part of Buckeye Love.”

Making personalized cards fits with Buckeye Love’s theme of spreading kindness, Lyons said.

“I've been a card-maker for many, many years as a personal hobby,” she said. “I try to bring that into other acts of service by donating to different charitable organizations that collect cards and give them to a variety of populations that may be in need.”

During the Buckeye Love event, participants snacked on cookies while working in groups, sharing ideas and supplies.  

“We’re inviting folks in, giving them lots of fun supplies with inspirational quotes and images and some additional tips that they might not normally use to design a card,” Lyons said. “We’ve got some writing prompts for them and some design ideas. I think a handwritten note is so meaningful and powerful.”

Ria Martins, a graduate student majoring in environmental sciences, said the “Cookies and Cards with Cheryl” event provided an outlet to express her creativity.

“I had never heard about Make a Card for a Friend a Day,” she said. “This is the first time I was hearing about it, and I had time, so I felt like [participating].”

Spencer Litzenberger, a staff member who works in the Office of Student Life’s BuckID unit, said making handmade cards to express love and friendship was a fitting way to kick off Buckeye Love month.

“Getting a card like this, especially if it’s handmade because you know a lot of effort went into making it, is just a really nice thing and something you don’t see very often. I can’t remember the last time I got one,” he said. “I made one for a good friend and he still has it more than a year later.”

For more information about Buckeye Love, visit kind.osu.edu.