Meeran Tariq was scrolling through Instagram this summer when he saw something about a new “wind phone” in Gaithersburg—a kiosk with a disconnected telephone in it where people can voice unsaid thoughts to loved ones who have died. Tariq immediately thought of his friend Sean King, who was hit and killed by a car in Falls Church in June. He and King had known each other for more than a decade and talked almost every day. “I had a lot of things on my mind about what my last words to Sean would [have been],” he says, but “it was so sudden. It was not something we were expecting.”
Tariq decided to visit the wind phone, which is housed in a structure that resembles a Little Free Library. A plaque offers instructions: “Pick up the phone, and dial their number, let the wind carry your words.” He was moved by the experience. “It was great to have that outlet in a place surrounded by nature, a quiet place to find some solace,” he says. “I found that very cathartic, and I would love for it to be something we can dedicate to Sean.”
That’s what brought Tariq to Olivia Chao Delfert, founder of the Little Wind Phone Project, which has so far set up wind phones in Silver Spring and Gaithersburg and is looking to expand throughout the DC area. Tariq reached out to her to ask about the possibility of building a wind phone in Falls Church to honor his late friend.
Delfert didn’t invent the wind-phone concept—she came across it while caring for her ailing parents. As she sought ways to channel her emotions, she learned more about the first wind phone, which was built in Japan in 2010. Delfert—who lives in Rockville and works for FEMA—was so drawn to the idea that she experimented with talking into a toy phone of her daughter’s. Sharing her feelings in that way felt “profoundly healing,” she says.
So Delfert launched the Little Wind Phone Project in 2025 and is now teaming up with community members like Tariq who are seeking to honor loved ones and give others a different way to grieve. The Falls Church project is just one of many in the works. Tariq says they’re in the early stages of narrowing down lo-cations and getting the necessary approvals. “I hope we can build that place not just for Sean’s loved ones but anyone who has anything to say to a person they have lost,” he says. “I think it would serve as a great tool for folks who are grieving not just a recent loss but, years later, making sure you continue to have a space to reflect and say your piece.”
