KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the country continues to battle the spread of coronavirus, many nursing homes, including those in the Kansas City metro , are encouraging visitors to stay away to protect the elderly and at-risk population from the virus.

“Saturday Night Live” star and Kansas City native Heidi Gardner posted on Instagram on Thursday that as a way to help, she would be sending cards to nursing homes across the United States. In her stories, she shared one card addressed to the Bridgewood Health Care Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

“Please join me and send a card to a nursing home,” Gardner posted on Instagram. “Senior citizens need our love more than ever right now.”

In her post, she shared an example of a card she wrote to the Shady Rest Care Center in Iowa.

“I realize with the current state of the world, you may not have as many visitors stopping by,” the card read. “So this is me ‘stopping by’ to let you now that you are loved and thought of.”

Gardner encouraged the residents to write back, writing, “We’re all a bit cooped up and lonely.”

In her Instagram stories, Gardner shared many others who were taking the idea and writing letters of their own.