Good morning, Columbia. Considering this year has been a wash for social outings and making new friends, we’ve decided to launch a special project to help you feel a little more connected.

We’ve heard a lot about how 2020 has encouraged people to get back to the basics — bread baking, at-home exercise, calling people on the phone… And in the spirit of that, we’re inviting you to join #6AMPenPals. Bonus: social distancing protocols are already built-in.

Gif via GIPHY

Here’s how it works: Click the button below to fill out our form by Wednesday, August 5 (if you’ve already signed up, you don’t have to do it again). We’ll need your name and email address. In mid- to late August, you’ll receive an email matching you with a randomly-selected pen pal in one of our six sister cities — Asheville, NC; Raleigh, NC; Greenville, SC; Charleston, SC; Chattanooga, TN; or Lakeland, FL.

The rest is up to you. It’s our hope that you’ll reach out to your pen pal and begin sharing thoughts and experiences about what’s happening in your respective cities, comparing notes, opening dialogue + building a unique friendship. Then, on September 1 — World Letter Writing Day — we encourage you to send a letter to your pen pal (yes, a letter) using the good ole USPS. Be sure to share on social + tag us #COLAtoday #6AMPenPals to commemorate the day.

FAQs

Why did I receive multiple pen pal matches? We received thousands of participant submissions for #6AMPenPal. While we did our best to sort and remove duplicates, it's possible that some still got through. If you accidentally submitted your information more than once, you may have received more than one pen pal match. Additionally, we did not remove duplicates where more than one name was tied to the same email address. If you did receive multiple pen pal matches, consider it a bonus — it's our hope that you will still write to them all so no one gets left out!

Why didn't I receive a pen pal match? If you responded to our form but did not receive a pen pal match, it's because you did not submit an email address with your form entry or the form or the form was received after 3 p.m. on Friday, August 7. Unfortunately, we could only connect participants who shared their email address so that we could make introductions.

I thought I would receive more than one pen pal? Our program was intended to match pen pals 1:1. If you submitted multiple forms, duplicate entries were likely deleted during our matching process. We apologize for any confusion and hope you enjoy connecting with your new pen pal.

Can I get a different pen pal? All of the pen pals in our program have already been randomly matched with their counterpart. We hope you will enjoy communicating with your match and learning more about what's happening in their life and city.

Please note our participation period is now closed. If you are interested in seeing us do something similar in the future, email us at hello@colatoday.com to let us know.

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