Suzanne and Steven live in Tennessee, USA. They have no family or other connections to Ukraine, thought they did walk across the border from Romania some years ago for a ‘short’ visit in Ukraine.
“In my memory, at least, we spent almost as much time waiting at border checkpoints as we did in the country itself.”
Suzanne describes their days as calm having quit her job as a corporate lawyer after about 30 years. Though, she does consider a possible return in the future but in some other role.
“For now,” she shared, “I’m content doing volunteer work at a local clinic and also as a cook for Meals on Wheels.
Steven works as a hospice chaplain, which is his third or fourth career.
At the onset of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Suzanne and Steven felt anger. Not aware of any Ukraine-related volunteer organizations in their community, they tried to find ways to support the people of Ukraine.
“For us, that meant financial support. Sending money to people closer to the situation seemed like the best way to be helpful. We donated to a number of non-profits that were taking in supplies and food, or that were helping evacuate people in areas which were under attack. We still make monthly donations toward food and medical care.”
Steven has a long-standing tradition of decorating the front door of their home with string lights for Halloween, Christmas, and for parties. Shortly after the full-scale invasion, he decided to put up blue-and-yellow string lights in support of Ukraine, leaving them on the door since.
“The lights remind people that the invasion is ongoing,” explained Suzanne, “and we still have people comment about them.”
In 2025, Suzanne saw a post in the Postcrossing forum about Postcards to the Front, and “knew right away that this was a project for which I had the time, materials, and interest to support. I sent my first batch of cards that week.”
Suzanne and Steven have since written more than 50 beautiful postcard messages of support for Defenders of Ukraine; many of them Suzanne’s own photographs.
“I choose cards that are colorful, cheerful, and are likely to have broad appeal,” she told us.
“Since I love natural beauty, I have a good number of postcards of flowers, scenery, and animals, and so the brightest ones of those are what I tend to choose for Defenders. I try to avoid cards that are dull, vintage, niche, American-patriotic, or potentially confusing from a cultural perspective.”
Not long after Suzanne joined Postcrossing, she found an online vendor that would print postcards from her photos and only had to order 2-4 cards of each image, keeping the quantity small and the variety large.
“I ordered an assortment of cards using photos I’ve taken on various trips or on hikes near here. Some of those are the colorful, friendly sort of images that I like to use for Defenders. … As I didn’t take the photos specifically to write the postcards to Defenders, it doesn’t matter that I indicate on the card that I am the photographer for the postcard image.”
Like other postcard warriors, Suzanne has been a snail-mail fan her entire life, and has quite a collection of decorative stamps, stickers, and tapes.
“For decades, I’ve been teased, justifiably, for my tendency (read: strong need) to have things make a coherent whole. I want the tapes, stickers, stamps, and ink colors to coordinate. Even if the recipient doesn’t consciously notice, I think the cohesion makes the card feel better to the person reading it. In law, this tendency showed up in my insistence on having contracts that were well-organized, with plain wording, margins, fonts, headers, titles, and indexes that improved legibility.”
We know-know when a batch of Suzanne and Steven’s cards arrive in our mailbox without even checking for the Tennessee postal cancellation! Each envelope is handmade by Suzanne, sometimes out of paper that she has hand-marbled, “because the wonderful volunteers who handle postcard intake deserve to handle pretty things themselves.”
We are grateful for our good fortunate in having a mailbox dedicated exclusively to human care and beauty! Lucky us!
When she first started to write postcards to Defenders, Suzanne tried Ukrainian phrases from the phrase translation page on the Postcards to the Front website.
“Later, I used an online translation tool to provide text that talks about our Ukraine blue-and-yellow string lights.”
Suzanne also writes weekly postcards to her elected representatives (American), “pleading with them to make choices that align with basic human rights and the United States Constitution. I tell myself that each one is a drop of water: it may be weak on its own, but they will add up and join other water drops and eventually we may make a powerful storm of change. Those postcards [to our representatives] are almost entirely ignored by the recipients, and to date no representative has acted in line with any of my requests. It can be disheartening and it’s never rewarding.”
Further, Suzanne, believes, “the postcards that I contribute to Postcards to the Front are water drops for a different kind of rainfall. I see them as hopeful, supportive, and helpful right now. I know that they reach their intended audience. I know that they help. Knowing these things is a tonic for me after the dissatisfaction of writing to our political representatives.”
About her motivation for writing her cards almost entirely in Ukrainian now, Suzanne explained that she believes “it’s easier for anyone to read a message if it’s in their native language. I want these cards to be pure encouragement, not homework.”
Of course, one cannot be sure what the actual effect of the postcards might be on Defenders; however, Suzanne and Steven hope “that they feel less isolated and more ‘seen’. That’s really all I’m trying to say in my messages: we remember you and we support you.”
Suzanne prefers to not write such messages as ‘keep fighting’ or ‘be brave’, “because this is not my fight and I have no standing to tell them what to do or how to live.”
“I just want them to know that people around the world care for them, support them, and wish them well.”
Please continue to tell others about this project. Ask family and friends to write cards. Involve your children and grandchildren.
Not sure how to get started? Check our “How to” page, and our Ukrainian phrases page.
Want to organize a group of family, friends or others to write postcards? We have a page with suggestions about How to Run a Postcard-Writing Workshop.
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