Welcome to Pens for Kids Denmark

In short:

Give a pen to Pens for Kids - and we'll send it to a child who needs it. Pens for Kids is based 100 % on voluntary work - there are no employees, no-one who makes money on the project, and the kids don't pay anything for the pens 

 
Pens for Kids Denmark is...

...now (since February 2010) an official organisation, but started app. 2001 - 2002 as a private charity project. Today Pens for Kids has sister organisations in USA and England, and a new one is on its way in Portugal - but the basic concept is stil a grass root organisation where everyone can participate. If you can't donate money, perhaps you can donte a pen - if you can't form a sister organisation, perhaps you can administrate a local support group on Facebook or similar.

If you'd like to start a local branch or a sister project (like Pens for Afrikids), we'll be happy to help with advise and coaching, documents, photos or names / adresses of contact persons in Africa.
Pens for Kids is free of any political or religious influence and economical motives and has no other purpose than to help underprivileged kids with their education and development.

We hope this site will inspire you to help us helping kids in Africa - if not in any other way, then just by raising awareness of the project.

 
What we do:

In many countries, kids can only dream of an education, as parents can not afford to send them to school. The main obstacles are often school fees, school uniforms, or that the children need to work to help support the family. In Kenya primary school is free, but missing income, uniforms and cost of school utensils like pens are still big hurdles to overcome. In some countries such as Kenya where the average income per family is a dollar or two a day, pens are big investments and quickly dry out under the relentless Equatorial sun.

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!

The Pens for Kids project works like this:

 - We collect pens from friends, colleagues, family and others who are willing to donate them, and send them to our contacts in Africa.
- All pens sent to us from other countries we forward to our contacts (the so-called Ambassadors) by mail, but if the donor lives closer to Africa than us, we kindly ask that the pens be sent directly to Africa instead - if it doesn't make any difference to the donor.
- Our contacts in Africa distribute the pens to under privileged kids in their local area at no charge.

The Pens for Kids project is based 100 % on voluntary work, so our Ambassadors receive no salary. Ambassadors enrolled by Pens for Kids Denmark do however get financial help from the founder, for a small scale business- or education project. This private support is formally independant from the Pens for Kids project.

 
What you can do:

If you think the Pens for Kids project is a good idea and would like to help us helping the kids, there is a number of ways you can do so:

- by donating pens,
- by making others donate pens,
- by telling others about the project,
- by printing and distributing PR-materials,
- by recruiting new donors and collectors,
- by recruiting new recruiters,
...and helping us build a network.

All well meant contributions will be greatly appreciated – by us as well as the kids. However, please follow these guidelines:

You can send pens directly to the Pens for Kids Ambassadors listed on the "Contacts" page, or you can send them to me - Claus. If you send them directly to the ambassadors please mark the package “Pens for Kids” and do not include anything but pens in it!

If you would like to help by printing PR material or creating your own Pens for Kids homepage, please do not use pictures copyrighted by others - just send me your postal address and telephone number, and I'll be happy to send you the files you need on a CD.

Please do not spread links to our websites by chain letter-like emails or in ways that could resemble a pyramid game - that might be illegal in some countries.

If you want further information / would like to help by forming your own local branch - send me an email with your name and telephone number, and I'll contact you as soon as possible.