Young woman with Down syndrome spreads joy with handmade greeting cards
Her mother
By Carli Petrus
Click here for updates on this story
TAYLOR, Michigan (WXMI) — Twenty-eight-year-old Alyssa Patrias has been making her own greeting cards and handing them out to complete strangers since 2020.
Her mother, Sue Cameron, said it started as something to keep her and her daughter, who has Down ayndrome, busy during the pandemic.
“I wouldn’t even take her out grocery shopping. She has a compromised immune system, but she would stay in her room and just stay on the computer and watch TV all day,” Cameron said.
Now, five years and more than 15,000 cards later, Cameron cannot believe the impact a small gesture like this one continues to have.
“It’s just been remarkable. There’s been times I cried with people that have just started crying and hugging,” Cameron said.
Patrias hands out her homemade cards anywhere and everywhere she goes. She recently passed them out to hospital workers, firefighters, police officers and people at the restaurant she works at.
On Friday, she stopped by her local grocery store.
“I was just grocery shopping and I saw her come up and I was like wow, that’s very sweet and I love the art that I see here. It really, really is positive and I feel like we need that nowadays,” said a woman who received a card from Patrias.
Cameron said that her daughter can stop making cards any time she wants to, but Patrias says that is not happening any time soon because this is her passion.
“It makes them happy and so it makes me happy,” Patrias said.
If you are interested in following the amazing things Patrias is doing with her art, connect to her Facebook page Alyssa’s Happy Cards.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
