This Valentine's Day a group of Edmonton romantics is making sure everyone in their city is feeling appreciated -- by passing out 1,000 love letters to complete strangers.
For the past two days, and continuing Thursday, groups of volunteers have been hitting West Edmonton Mall, the LRT and the streets of downtown to pass out handmade letters and cards to unsuspecting passersby.
The secret cards are part of an ongoing project created by Edmonton photographer Ashley Green.
Green told the CBC she started 1000 Letters as a way to include people who may not have a partner to celebrate what's supposed to be the most romantic day of the year.
"Maybe you don't have a significant other, or maybe you're a little bit bitter about Valentine's Day," Green said.
"This is a great way to get involved where you can just show love to the person bagging your groceries or sitting beside you on the bus."
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Love Letters 2 Strangers
The 1000 Letters project grew out of Green's parent project, Love Letters 2 Strangers, which she started a year-and-a-half ago, according to The Edmonton Sun.
Greene began writing little notes of encouragement to hand out to strangers, inspired by love letters she used to receive from her mom growing up.
"I had so much love coming from my friends and family and the community I was in… I just wanted to do something to give something back in a way that I knew how," Green told Metro Edmonton last fall.
Within months, the project grew to include a website, Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as holding small workshops to bring other people into the letter-writing process.
1000 Letters is her biggest project to date. Last weekend, 60 volunteers met at the Woodcroft Library to assemble 1,034 one-of-a-kind handmade love letters, reports CBC.
“We will have big piles of love letters and just be handing them out to people and talking about the project and reminding them that love and Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be about just your significant other, it can be about the people in your community and appreciating the people around you,” Green told The Edmonton Sun.
Similar projects have been popping up across North America, including one in Toronto and another in Massachusetts.