Noteworthy

Jill Gerbracht sent personal, handwritten notes each day of 2024.

As a Torrance Memorial marketing and communications team member, Jill Gerbracht knows how to write. And as the creator of a boutique stationery business called Social Butterfly Designs, she loves all things related to paper. Gerbracht combined the two endeavors in a challenge she set for herself last year: She would deliver a handwritten note to a different person each day in 2024.

“I’ve been creating, designing and selling cards for 25 years,” Gerbracht says. “I’ve always believed a handwritten note is ‘life’s secret weapon.’ It’s an outlet away from screens to be thoughtful, impactful and meaningful.” Her process includes thinking about the recipient and articulating what she appreciates about them.

Gerbracht has sent notes to family, friends and strangers. She’s written to Diana, her favorite Starbucks barista; Emma, a beloved Torrance Memorial cafeteria cashier; Vinny, her new mailman; and several of her colleagues at Torrance Memorial. She even handed a note to actor Ewan McGregor after discovering he was sitting right behind her on a flight. He ended up chatting with Gerbracht and showing her photos of his family when they landed.

“You connect with people in a way you would never otherwise through a handwritten note,” she points out.

Gerbracht didn’t expect her project to have such a strong impact on others. Recipients regularly tell her the gesture made their day. One keeps Gerbracht’s note on her bedstand.

Elaine McRae, Director of Torrance Memorial University, has had some interactions with Gerbracht but did not know her well. She received a note from Gerbracht acknowledging a difficult time (McRae lost her husband a few years ago) and including specific, glowing feedback about her work and the program she runs.

“It just touched me because you make all this effort, but you don’t think anyone notices,” McRae says. “That act of unsolicited kindness was amazing, and the fact that it was a handwritten note was truly special.”

Finding people to write to has not been as challenging as some people think, Gerbracht says. “It makes me pay attention to everyone around me every day—people who are genuinely doing something kind or just noticing small things, like a smile and a hello.”

Gerbracht noticed a woman regularly sitting on a bench on the Redondo Beach Esplanade. Although the woman sat with friends, she always made eye contact with Gerbracht and greeted her. Gerbracht wrote a note addressed to “Dear Beautiful Lady on the Esplanade,” expressing her appreciation for the woman’s friendliness. They have since become friends.

Gerbracht kept up her commitment while on vacation. And if she was in bed and realized she’d forgotten that day’s note, she would get up and write one.

As the year came to a close, she was asked if she would continue going forward. While Gerbracht doesn’t plan to write notes daily, she expects to write at least twice weekly. The practice, she says, has “really deepened my gratitude in life. It’s increased my joy, strengthened my existing relationships and created new relationships I wouldn’t have had. It’s as much a gift to myself as it is to the recipients.”

While she’s more comfortable writing about others than being profiled herself, Gerbracht hopes her story inspires others to handwrite personalized messages more often. She says, “If everybody wrote a note a week, our world would be a much happier place.”

Acts of Kindness Boost Health

Practicing kindness is good for your health. “The benefits of kindness and caring are clearly studied and documented,” notes Moe Gelbart, PhD, Torrance Memorial Medical Center’s director of behavioral health. “One of the unique things about acts of kindness is they not only benefit the recipient of those acts but improve the physical and mental well-being of the person acting in a kind and caring way.”

The act of doing kindness releases oxytocin, a neurotransmitter that fosters a sense of bonding, and nitric oxide, which helps maintain healthy blood pressure. Studies indicate oxytocin reduces inflammation in the body while healthy levels of nitric oxide lower the risks of heart attack, stroke and dementia. Being kind can also increase levels of serotonin, a hormone that helps boost mood and inhibit anxiety and depression.

Waguih William IsHak, MD, a professor of psychiatry at Cedars-Sinai, says a single act of kindness isn’t sufficient to benefit long-term health. Instead, acts of kindness must be repeated. So do yourself a favor and adopt a daily habit of kindness—whether by writing notes, volunteering or finding other opportunities to do something nice for others.

Photographed by Siri Berting