The beautiful reason this man is travelling 31,000 miles to deliver 50 letters (2024)

Grief is a heavy weight, but one man has found strength through selflessness by bringing a little light to strangers’ lives.

When Jonny Beardmore’s dad Eric died from motor neurone disease, he made it his mission to raise money for MND research – by reconnecting an increasingly divided world, one letter at a time.

Honouring a custom started by sailors in 1793, the New Zealander is hand-delivering 50 postcards left by travellers on Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands to recipients around the world.

The story behind the 200-year old tradition is that visitors would leave a cardin the post box for a loved one, in the hope that it might get picked up by a passing ship – but there was never the certainty the letter would ever make it home.

So far Jonny’s journey has taken him from Iceland to Antarctica, clocking up over 31,000 miles across at least 14 countries – and he intends to visit many more until he delivers his final letter on March 1, 2025.

He’s doing it in memory of his father, but Jonny tells Metro.co.uk the most meaningful part of his journey has been getting to know the people he delivers messages to.

‘They’re opening up to me and telling me the most amazing stories of their lives once they find out what I’m doing,’ he says.

A break-up in Belize

One of Jonny’s letters was addressed to a man named Steve. The note was written by Steve’s girlfriend Denise, who had professed her undying love with the words: ‘No matter what happens, I will always love you.’

Jonny found Steve living in Belize, where he is known locally as ‘tie-dyed Steve’ for his love of colourful shirts.

Though he and Denise had broken up by the time the letter reached them, Jonny joined the pair – who are now friends – for lunch.

He told the Wall Street Journal: ‘Not quite the happy ending we were rooting for, but the letter delivery has got them back talking which is a win in my books.’

A little help from friends

Jonny’s journey to Nashville nearly ended sadly too. Milo’s grandparents had dropped a postcard at Post Office Bay to go to their young grandson in Nashville, but the family wasn’t home when he arrived.

It was only with the help of neighbours Kurt and Amanda, who walked with Jonny from house-to-house trying to get a number for Milo’s family, that the letter finally reached its destination

‘I’ve been to South America, Central America, Antarctica, and now North America,’ Jonny said. ‘I’ve come all the way from the Galapagos Islands to bring you a letter.’

In memory of his father

So far, Jonny has delivered 50 letters to locations across South America, Antarctica and Europe. He’s currently in Ireland, where he has starred on Liveline, the country’s most popular weekday radio show.

Speaking about his extraordinary mission, Jonny told the BBC last month: ‘I want to highlight the loss of mobility and freedom of movement that my father and other MND sufferers experience – a reminder that we should never take these abilities for granted.’

Jonny’s journey so far

Jonny has travelled to the UK, US, Iceland, Mexico, Canada, Ireland, Belize, Guatemala, Brazil, Antarctica, Argentina, Panama, Peru, and Paraguay.

He still has six months left of his travels, but has already raised over $10,000NZ out of his $100,000 goal.

The adventurer documents his travels on trackable map and his social media accounts – having most recently travelled to Ireland and the UK, where he raised money for Stand Against MND.

The funding for his trip is done entirely by himself – but he uses frequent flyer miles to help alleviate the financial burden.

Although Jonny won’t finish his journey delivering post cards and letters until March 1, 2025, he’s already encountered plenty of connections that will stay with him forever – and come across some incredibly random ones, too.

‘I had two separate deliveries in Iceland that turned out to be linked in the most amazing way,’ he tells Metro.

‘The original sender sent multiple letters – I delivered one to a family that it turned out had already received another randome letter from the Galapagos – and from the same guy!

‘The connections from this letter postbox around the world is amazing.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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