Here’s To You: the #150LoveLetters Project

The Starting Point

The #150LoveLetters project was launched on May 13, 2017 in the National Capital Region (Ottawa and Gatineau) and ended on August 18, 217. The intent was to spread love across the country, in honor of Canada 150, by collecting 150 letters of love, gratitude and appreciation as well as poems and prayers.

The goal was to publish a treasured collection and leave a legacy to future generations of Canadians.

The project brought together over seventy writers who wanted to share their thoughts and feelings with individuals who had inspired them.

Some of the Love Letters Writers were comfortable in disclosing their identities while others preferred to remain anonymous and used an alias.

Since the beginning of May 2017, they gathered in conference centers, meeting rooms and coffee houses or sent their letter, poem, prayer or story by email to Celah Creations an Ottawa-based publishing house. Their intent was to express love, give appreciation and show gratitude to loved ones living in Canada.

The Gift of Love

Since the recipients of the letters where an inspiration to the Love Letters Writers who contributed to this book, they were invited to reciprocate and make their loved one feel special in return. Most of them did and some involved us in sending out a note.

We collected over a hundred fifty letters/poems written by fifty-six women and nineteen men.

The writers live in the following areas of planet Earth:

• Canada: Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Cobourg, Victoria, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Gatineau, Montreal and the city of Québec;
• France: Paris;
• Italy: Rome;
• Switzerland: Geneva;
• United States of America: Los Angeles;
• Ivory Coast: Abidjan.

The Power of Connection

As you can see, the project went beyond our expectations and reached people on three out of the five continents, thanks to Facebook. The letters reached people aged two months to eighty years who speak English, French and Spanish.

When we received the letters, we grouped them by themes. Then, we used the following words that reflect the seven ways in which people love to name the themes:

• Pragma: long term feelings based on compatibility, common interests and lifestyle;
• Storge: familial love (parents, children, relatives, etc.);
• Philia: friendship and goodwill;
• Philautia: self-love;
• Ludus: playful and casual love;
• Eros: passionate love; and
• Agape: universal charitable love.

Since we wanted to honor God first, we added another Greek word, theikos, which means divine.

We hope that you will enjoy savouring the loving words that are generously spread across the pages of this collection.

With love,