A group of Syracuse middle and high school students are sending love letters to nursing home residents. Tuesday afternoon, they delivered the first batch of handwritten postcards as part of The L.O.V.E. Letters Project. L.O.V.E. stands for “Let Our Voices Echo.”

“It just means to like empower young kids, like everywhere to let them know they can make a difference now and forever no matter what they do and how they do it,” said the project's founder, Samaia Goodrich.

After delivering the cards and showing off posters, they paraded around the outside of Central Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.

“I thought it was very nice," said Jasmaine Lamar, a senior at Syracuse's Institute of Technology High School. "It kind of made me want to cry because seeing all those people inside, just knowing what’s going on and knowing they can’t have visitors. It’s very sad.”

The students waved to residents, and the residents greeted them with signs and air hugs. A Syracuse seventh-grader came up with the idea.

“I was sitting in my room one day like a couple of weeks ago, six or seven weeks ago," said Goodrich. "I was just thinking about how they’re feeling in nursing homes because they can’t get any visitors from anybody. It’s just hard for them. I just want to do something nice.”

National Grid is helping to sponsor the project. Mayor Ben Walsh proclaimed June 9, “LOVE Project Day” in the city of Syracuse.