When Patrick Wallace logged onto Facebook one morning and saw that his friend, Michael Volpatt, had posted a note from his mom expressing her unconditional love for her gay son, he immediately recognized it was something special. Less than two months later, the pair has transformed that single letter into a Web site with over 2,000 weekly views.
A Note to My Kid launched on May 29 with six letters, including the original letter from Volpatt’s mom and two letters from Wallace’s parents. To round out the first batch of notes, the duo reached out to family and friends.
“The toughest part was getting people to submit their letters because when people write this type of letter, they want to get it right,” Wallace said. “We, at the same time, don’t want to pressure people because we want this to be from the heart and for them to contribute when they’re good and ready.”
With a steady flow of letters trickling in, A Note to My Kid plans to publish one note per day to give each note, and person, a spotlight for 24 hours.
Despite its young age, the Web site is starting to attract attention. The San Diego ambassador of the Trevor Project, which is a national organization that provides crisis and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth, noticed a post about it on Facebook and shared it on the organization’s page. Wallace also is reaching out to other members of the LGBT community to help spread the word.
“Our goal is to really make it simple for parents to share their unconditional love for their children, whether their kids are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or still questioning their sexuality,” Wallace said. “We also want to make it simple for parents of any child at all to share their unconditional love.”
The reaction to the Web site has been positive, according to Wallace. He noted that people have stopped by their Facebook page, which already has over 300 likes in less than one month, to give them thanks and encouragement.
If the site continues to grow as quickly as it has in its first few weeks, Wallace would eventually like to turn it into a non-profit organization and create a scholarship fund to help educate members of the LGBT community.
“Education is to us the most important thing in our community in helping people grow and become leaders,” he said. “As Oprah says, ‘When you know better, you do better.’”
Right now, however, Wallace just hopes that parents keep sharing their inspirational notes.
“The parents are what make this site really special,” he said. “If we don’t have the letters from parents expressing their unconditional love, then we don’t exist.”
If you want to share your story of parental love with A Note to My Kid, send Wallace an email at johnpatrickwallace@me.com. Read the current letters at anotetomykid.com.
