WASHINGTON — Who says it doesn’t pay to send a letter to the president of the United States?

It did for eight people from around the country who told President Barack Obama how his policies helped them overcome personal hardship. The White House invited them to sit with first lady Michelle Obama for Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Obama also met in the Oval Office on Tuesday with four of the letter writers.

The eight are among 22 people the White House invited to attend the speech, including Alan Gross, the Maryland man recently released from five years of imprisonment in Cuba, astronaut Scott Kelly and CVS Health CEO Larry Merlo. Gross attended with his wife, Judy.