Press

An 11-year-old’s effort to make sure her college-bound brother knew how much she loved him has turned into a business aimed at helping people connect the old-fashioned way: through handwritten notes.

Bella Geary, who will enter sixth grade at Pocahontas Middle School in Henrico County this fall, wrote the notes as a Christmas gift tailored to topics including “Open when … you miss me,” “Open when … we’ve had a fight” and “Open when … you’re nervous.”

“When I miss him, I know that I’m with him even when I’m not,” Bella said of her brother Michael. “My handwriting is there for him.”

Read the full article at Richmond Times-Dispatch

For Immediate Release

Open When Letters

‘How one young girl was Inspired to Spread Happiness through Personal Tragedy’

The only girl and the youngest of 5, Bella Geary is not your typical 11 year old. At the age of 8, she lost her dad to suicide. Five months later, she went through another devastating blow when her mother was diagnosed with a deadly cancer which nearly took her life. To say Bella holds her mother and four brothers extra close to her, both physically and figuratively, is an understatement. This girl cherishes Family!!

When Bella’s oldest brother, Michael, was preparing for college, he had mixed emotions of leaving the family. Bella, also known as the “happy one” in the family; with an infectious grin, decided to do something a little different for her brother to get him through his freshman year in college. Her goal was to send Michael off with a “box of happiness” that first year away from home.

“Open When” is a box of letters for your loved one to open on special occasions when you can’t be there, in person. A series of topics ranging from “Open When you miss home” to “Open When you have a fight with your roommate” to “Open When you’re stressed about exams” have been created for you to customize. The topics are chosen based on the recipient- college students, pregnant moms, soldiers on deployment – and the letters are personalized by you for your loved one. The kit provides fun, creative ideas of extra inclusions to put in the envelopes as well as blank stationary and envelopes to use for personal topics you may want to add.

Born out of a desire to “create happiness” and spread awareness about depression, Bella’s greatest wish is that no other family endures what she went through. She wants to build a compassionate community to help educate others about depression and to spread happiness, Bella says “I just want everyone to know that they are important and loved.”

“Open When Kits” are available online at www.OpenWhen.com as well as select gift stores nationwide.

Contact:

Andrea Edmunds

andrea@openwhen.com

804-921-7660

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