A selfless mum has written 100 letters to strangers isolated by coronavirus lockdowns around the world.
Jess Collins, 37, said she wanted to help in some way during the global crisis and so launched an initiative to reach out to people who wanted contact.
The copywriter from Falmouth, Cornwall, drew on her writing skills because she believes "words give us hope and bring us together."
She put a shoutout on Instagram to see who wanted to hear from her, and the requests came flooding in from all over the world including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain and the US.
Jess wrote handwritten cards, talking about her thoughts and feelings and how she was coping throughout the pandemic.
And she was pleased when she began receiving replies with the stories of others.
"It was humbling and powerful to connect with people," Jess told Mirror Online.
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"People were showing their vulnerabilities to someone they don't know.
"It's made me trust in human nature and trust that we are all connected and all in it together."
Jess, who has two children aged two and four, said that as the coronavirus pandemic broke out, she started wondering what she could do to help others.
"At the time people were volunteering to help with health care but I have got no medical knowledge.
"The only thing I have got is writing - and I know that the power of that can lift people."
She told her Instagram followers her plan to write 100 letters to strangers on March 17 and said people started messaging her asking for a letter.
Jess's Instagram post, explaining what she was going to do, said: "I am just a writer. All I have is words.
"But words give us hope, words bond us and bring us together.
"Words can inspire and embolden, connect and create community.
"This year I planned a 100 Letters Project to write 100 letters to people who have touched my life in some way over the past 30 years.
"I’ve decided instead to write 100 letters to people during collective isolation.
"If you want to receive a letter from me just drop me a message.
"I may only have words but sometimes that can give the greatest inspiration and have the biggest impact of all.
"And there’s nothing like receiving a letter."
Jess said she wrote about how she was feeling - whether she was up or down she would write the truth.
She was honest, talking about how she was sleep deprived, about the things she was missing during lockdown - for example swimming in the sea.
"It was like a diary, I talked about things I was learning, things I was finding difficult," she said.
Jess said she wrote in cards with a quote about courage on the front and received about 15 "emotive" letters back.
"People said they had cried reading my letters," she said.
"Someone said that to have a letter from a stranger was the weirdest but most amazing thing ever and something that would never happen in normal every day life."
