How you can help
1: Sending Pens (and
pencils, erasers, rulers.....etc)
You probably have unwanted
pens tucked away in a desk or kitchen drawer, in your briefcase or
purse. Maybe you have received some mail with a complimentary pen
inside? Perhaps you picked up a spare at the bank today?We don't want the gold-plated, 50 year service award pen presented to you by your company! We do want the stash of unwanted pens you've got lying around that can really make a difference in a continent like Africa.
The success of Pens For Kids starts with people like YOU. Collect all of the pens you can and send them to Pens For Kids. It’s that simple. Please put them in an envelope or box and send them to:
Denmark:
Claus Kusk Hjørnet
Holmevej 21, Annisse Nord
Dk-3200 Helsinge
Denmark
Portugal:
Fatima Moreiro
631 - 4° Esq.
4300 433 Porto
Portugal
USA:
Pens for Kids International Inc
2225 Josie Avenue
Long Beach, CA 90815 USA
UK:
Pens For Kids
36 Glebe Avenue
Broughton
Kettering NN14 1NE
Overseas Ambassadors:
Send them directly to one of our ambassadors in overseas countries, which will help us to use our limited funds to send more pens ourselves.
You can find details of Ambassadors overseas by clicking here List of Pens for Kids Ambassadors
If you are thinking of sending pens to Kenya though, please send them to us instead - we are waiting for a customs exemption certificate number for the registered charity there which, once we have it, will mean that we can avoid import duties on pens sent to Kenya. We also have around 250,000 pens earmarked for Kenya, so if you send your pens to us, we will include them in that shipment when they go (if you can please contribute towards shipping costs, it will of course help too!)
Don't restrict yourself to just pens; pencils, erasers, rulers etc are all welcome. No wax crayons though please, they don't survive the hot sun for long.
2: Buying our postcards (UK
only)
We have started selling
postcards to support fund-raising. All profits made from the sale of
postcards go fully towards shipping pens. All of the photos used in our postcards were taken by Claus Kusk Hjørnet, the Danish founder of Pens For Kids. We currenty have 4 different designs: Zebra, Grant's Gazelle,
Yellow-Billed Hornbill and Speke's Weaver. The postcards are great quality photos, the web images have been reduced in quality to speed up loading times.
Postcards sell in packs of 10 for £2.50, including P&P to the UK. After printing, selling and postage costs, this generates a profit of just over £1 towards shipping pens. Of course if you would like to pay a little extra, it all goes to a good cause - there's a "Donate" button below.
There are a few different ways to buy postcards:
1: Send a cheque to the UK address above, indicating which postcards you would like. (Don't forget to include a return address!)
2: A bank transfer to our account - account details below, and then an email to purchases@pensforkids.co.uk telling me what you'd like, along with your address.
3: Buy online on this site, and pay using Paypal.
Here's what we have on offer...
Pack of 10 Zebra postcards
Pack of 10 Grant's Gazelle postcards
Pack of 10 Yellow-Billed Hornbill Postcards
Pack of 10 Speke's Weaver postcards
Pack of 10 assorted postcards
4: Search on EBay for "Pens For Kids" and you'll see what we're selling, along with feedback on the postcards.
We're happy to accept your cash by any method - but options 1 & 2 above cost us less to adminster.
3: Funding
We send the pens to Africa whether we get any funding or not!Typically, 1,000 pens shipped from the UK costs around £70-£80 to send to Kenya; that's 8p per pen (equivalent to around $0.12, €0.09), assuming that the customs don't charge hefty import duties - which is not always the case (although the pens are clearly marked that they have been freely donated and are for free distribution). We also send pens to other countries.
Pens For Kids UK usually has thousands of donated pens just waiting for enough funds for us to send them - and more arrive most days.
If you can help in any way with this cost, it means that we can send more pens.
We will happily accept any funding towards the cost of shipping. NONE of it is used to pay employees, it ALL goes towards postage costs.
Every little helps. If you'd like to sponsor an entire shipment, I can let you know the exact cost of a box, or pallet, or container.
Alternatively, if you just want to make a donation to help with the cost of the next shipment, or to pay towards the cost of pens you've donated, that will be great too.
There are 3 ways of donating:
1: A cheque payable to "Pens For Kids" sent to the UK address above, either on its own or with some donated pens
2: A bank transfer directly to our bank account:
Name "Pens For Kids" Sort Code 08-92-99 Account Number 65521359
3: A Paypal donation:You don't have to be in the UK to use any of these options, you can donate from anywhere.
In Denmark, please see www.pensforkids.dk for details of how to donate.
In the US, please see www.pensforkids.com for details of how to donate.
EVEN
IF YOU CAN'T HELP
WITH FUNDING A SHIPMENT -
WE STILL NEED YOUR PENS!
WITH FUNDING A SHIPMENT -
WE STILL NEED YOUR PENS!
Pens for Kids is trying to help kids in Africa, by removing one of the hurdles on their way to an education - the cost of a pen!
4: Get Involved - UK
We have an ongoing need for help. Areas where a helping hand would be really useful are in:- promoting the work of Pens For Kids UK and encouraging donations of pens
- fund raising, especially approaching companies to see if they will sponsor the shipment of a box of pens
- testing
and repackaging pens for shipping (needs to be local to Kettering, as
this is where the pens are sent). We test all donated pens prior to
shipping, as we can't afford to send pens that don't work.
Please note that nobody receives any salary or payment from Pens For Kids UK. All donations are only used to send pens.
We also have an ongoing need for new strong cardboard boxes, around 70 cm square is a good size/weight for shipping pens. Please contact us if you have any spare.
A good, accurate, set of scales capable of weighing up to 20Kg would be really useful too.