About us
Hi — we’re Rosie and Mara, cofounders of the Dad Letter Project.
In July 2025, Rosie posted a simple TikTok about her dad, Buz, who was newly retired and looking for something meaningful to do. She shared that he’d love nothing more than to be “everyone’s dad” — the kind who writes letters, cheers you on, and reminds you that you matter.
A quick Google Form followed. What came next was unexpected.
Messages poured in from people who had lost their dads. From people whose dads had never really shown up. From people who just needed a little love — for themselves, a sibling in prison, a struggling partner, or a person who hadn’t heard “I’m proud of you” in a long time.
It was overwhelming. And kind of beautiful.
Soon after, Mara and her dad, Darren, joined in. Inspired by the response, Darren began writing letters too — and the project quickly grew from one dad writing to a few strangers into something much bigger. Behind the scenes, Mara helped turn a heartfelt idea into something sustainable, organized, and real.
Rosie and Mara actually met years earlier while working at the same camp — the very place where Buz once wrote Rosie letters while she was away. Long before the Dad Letter Project existed, letters were already shaping their lives.
So we built this together. And we’re still figuring it out as we go.
If you’re here, it means you believe in the power of a good old-fashioned letter — and in the idea that care, encouragement, and fatherly support shouldn’t be in short supply.
We’re really glad you found us.
If you have questions, ideas, stories, or want to tell us how to fix this site (seriously), email us anytime at support@dadletterproject.com.
With love,
Rosie & Mara
Behind Every Letter: How We Keep This Safe and Real
A free letter looks simple from the outside. Getting it right takes a real system. Here's what happens between a request and a letter in someone's mailbox.
Every request is read by a person — twice
Before any letter is written, a trained volunteer reads the full request and assesses what kind of care it needs. We built a five-level framework (we call it Handle With Care) so a request about a hard breakup gets matched differently than one describing active grief — and requests signaling crisis are redirected to appropriate professional resources, because DLP is a letter-writing program, not a crisis service.
Technology assists. It never decides
A first pass flags language that may need elevated care, so nothing slips through from volume alone. But every flag is confirmed or overridden by a trained human — and if there's any ambiguity, a second independent reviewer weighs in before a decision is made. The cost of missing something real is always higher than the cost of double-checking.
Writers are matched to what they can actually hold
Dad Writers apply, submit references, pass a background check, and write a sample letter before they're cleared to write for real requesters. For our most sensitive requests — child loss, incarceration, racial identity — we require writers with lived experience of that specific thing, not just good intentions.
Every letter is reviewed before it's mailed
No letter goes from a writer's hand straight to a recipient. A second trained volunteer reviews it for tone and care first. Writers also never see a recipient's mailing address — that's handled separately by a background-checked mailing team, so personal information stays protected at every handoff.
One letter, one person, real accountability
We deliberately built this as a one-time letter, not an open-ended correspondence — it keeps the promise we can actually keep at our current scale, and lets every letter get this level of care rather than spreading volunteers thin.
Contact us
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!