LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – While most people are putting away ornaments and packing up Christmas lights, one Lubbock woman is already thinking about next Christmas.
For Juli Wyatt, the holiday season never really ends. This year marks eight years of her passion project delivering Christmas cards to seniors across the region, made possible through the support of community volunteers.
What began as a small gesture of writing cards for her mother’s neighbors at Raider Ranch transformed dramatically during the pandemic.
Wyatt said she witnessed the isolation and fear seniors experienced when COVID-19 restrictions prevented family visits to nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
“I saw on there [Facebook], the hurt and the fear that people were talking about. Nobody has toilet paper, nobody has cleaning supplies, things like that. People that were in nursing homes, assistance living, their relatives couldn’t go visit them,” she said.
That’s when Wyatt reached out through a local Facebook group, offering to write cards for seniors who couldn’t see their loved ones. What started as a two-person effort quickly expanded to include dozens of volunteers.
In 2025 alone, 27 people helped write, donate or deliver cards to seniors throughout the region. With the community’s help, the group reached every nursing home, assisted living facility and rehabilitation center in Lubbock, plus Meals on Wheels recipients, the State Supported Living Center and seniors in Plainview, Post, Lamesa and beyond.
“They go there and they don’t have relatives and visitors. Sometimes they don’t get gifts at all. This maybe the one thing they get,” Wyatt said.
Teachers across the area also involved their students, who colored, drew pictures and wrote messages that Wyatt said seniors especially treasure.
Wyatt believes her calling comes from a higher purpose and sees card writing as a disappearing tradition worth preserving.
For 2025, their final count of cards signed, sealed and delivered reached more than 6,800 through the collective efforts of volunteers.
Wyatt has already begun purchasing supplies and writing cards for next Christmas, with plans to continue growing the community-supported tradition.
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