Dear Friend of The Pencil Project:
Thank you for your interest in what we are doing to change the lives of children in both Guatemala and the United States! I am Douglas Rhodenbaugh, a public school teacher in Austin, Texas. In the last 17 years, my students and I have provided new and used school supplies to literally hundreds of thousands of poor Guatemalan children. The Pencils for Guatemala drive is an effort that my students look forward to every year, and many return year after year to participate. The Pencil Project now has Member Chapters in public, charter, and religious schools in several states, and now has an official Chapter at Brown University. For many of my students here in the United States, it is their first important experience to reach out and give, and feel the pride of opening their hearts to less fortunate others.
The Pencil Project began as a personal project of mine. I had met and photographed several groups of Mayan children working in farms and small factories in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, none of whom could attend school. When my students saw these portraits, and realized that basic supplies could provide the opportunity for these children to attend school, they asked if we could coordinate a donation drive for these child laborers. This “kids helping kids” idea seemed simple and beautiful, and now has grown from helping a few dozen children to over 80 entire schools, each with between 800 and 2000 children each!
I personally deliver the school supplies to individual villages during the Christmas Holidays, just before the school year begins in January, and visit every rural school each July. For many children, not having supplies on the first day means losing a year of school and working in the coffee fields with their parents. Thanks to generous financial donations, I am now able to ship supplies in maritime containers year-round, significantly impacting over 80 rural, indigenous village schools.
This year, with financial donations to our 501c3 Non-Profit Organization (www.thepencilproject.org), we were able to ship over 2000 pounds of donated and new supplies to very remote mountain villages. I have recently developed a few contacts in Guatemala that allow me to purchase supplies at significant savings, and avoid the huge expense of shipping and storage.
The formation of the Non-Profit Organization a couple of years back, has allowed me to accept monetary donations for the first time, and accomplish three essential goals. First, I can now afford to ship my students’ donated supplies in quantity. Second, I can now buy new school supplies in Guatemala that are actually cheaper than they are in the US, and avoid shipping and storage expenses. And finally, I can now give tax receipts to you, the donors, for your contributions as an official 501c3 Tax Exempt Status Organization.
We continue to collect supplies and backpacks year-round, and expect to deliver, as funding permits, two large sea containers every July and December. What began as a thoughtful gesture in my classroom has truly turned into a large and lasting endeavor.
In answer to your query, I might ask you to consider helping The Pencil Project in any of these ways:
Direct, tax-deductible contribution of money to finance the shipping of student donations.
Direct, tax-deductible contribution of money to buy school supplies in Guatemala, effectively doubling your contribution, since there will be no shipping and storage.
Sponsoring a school project that collects, sorts, boxes, and ships supplies to our “warehouse” in Guatemala City.
Sponsoring an event or fundraiser to help raise funds and awareness for The Pencil Project.
Adopting, or sharing this letter with someone who could adopt a Rural Indigenous Guatemalan school. (Crayons and Pencils for 1000 children averages about US$500 a year.
Adopting, or sharing this letter with someone who could adopt a child who could not attend school without help. (Supplies, vaccinations, shoes, and books average about US$150 a year.)
Most farming families make less than US$250 a year.
Your contribution to these projects is appreciated, and will promote not only a very deserving group of Guatemalan children, but also help the cultural and social education of children in schools here in the United States as they learn to share and care about others.
Thank you again for your continued generosity and support,
Douglas H. Rhodenbaugh
Executive Director
The Pencil Project
www.thepencilproject.org
Thank you for your interest in what we are doing to change the lives of children in both Guatemala and the United States! I am Douglas Rhodenbaugh, a public school teacher in Austin, Texas. In the last 17 years, my students and I have provided new and used school supplies to literally hundreds of thousands of poor Guatemalan children. The Pencils for Guatemala drive is an effort that my students look forward to every year, and many return year after year to participate. The Pencil Project now has Member Chapters in public, charter, and religious schools in several states, and now has an official Chapter at Brown University. For many of my students here in the United States, it is their first important experience to reach out and give, and feel the pride of opening their hearts to less fortunate others.
The Pencil Project began as a personal project of mine. I had met and photographed several groups of Mayan children working in farms and small factories in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, none of whom could attend school. When my students saw these portraits, and realized that basic supplies could provide the opportunity for these children to attend school, they asked if we could coordinate a donation drive for these child laborers. This “kids helping kids” idea seemed simple and beautiful, and now has grown from helping a few dozen children to over 80 entire schools, each with between 800 and 2000 children each!
I personally deliver the school supplies to individual villages during the Christmas Holidays, just before the school year begins in January, and visit every rural school each July. For many children, not having supplies on the first day means losing a year of school and working in the coffee fields with their parents. Thanks to generous financial donations, I am now able to ship supplies in maritime containers year-round, significantly impacting over 80 rural, indigenous village schools.
This year, with financial donations to our 501c3 Non-Profit Organization (www.thepencilproject.org), we were able to ship over 2000 pounds of donated and new supplies to very remote mountain villages. I have recently developed a few contacts in Guatemala that allow me to purchase supplies at significant savings, and avoid the huge expense of shipping and storage.
The formation of the Non-Profit Organization a couple of years back, has allowed me to accept monetary donations for the first time, and accomplish three essential goals. First, I can now afford to ship my students’ donated supplies in quantity. Second, I can now buy new school supplies in Guatemala that are actually cheaper than they are in the US, and avoid shipping and storage expenses. And finally, I can now give tax receipts to you, the donors, for your contributions as an official 501c3 Tax Exempt Status Organization.
We continue to collect supplies and backpacks year-round, and expect to deliver, as funding permits, two large sea containers every July and December. What began as a thoughtful gesture in my classroom has truly turned into a large and lasting endeavor.
In answer to your query, I might ask you to consider helping The Pencil Project in any of these ways:
Direct, tax-deductible contribution of money to finance the shipping of student donations.
Direct, tax-deductible contribution of money to buy school supplies in Guatemala, effectively doubling your contribution, since there will be no shipping and storage.
Sponsoring a school project that collects, sorts, boxes, and ships supplies to our “warehouse” in Guatemala City.
Sponsoring an event or fundraiser to help raise funds and awareness for The Pencil Project.
Adopting, or sharing this letter with someone who could adopt a Rural Indigenous Guatemalan school. (Crayons and Pencils for 1000 children averages about US$500 a year.
Adopting, or sharing this letter with someone who could adopt a child who could not attend school without help. (Supplies, vaccinations, shoes, and books average about US$150 a year.)
Most farming families make less than US$250 a year.
Your contribution to these projects is appreciated, and will promote not only a very deserving group of Guatemalan children, but also help the cultural and social education of children in schools here in the United States as they learn to share and care about others.
Thank you again for your continued generosity and support,
Douglas H. Rhodenbaugh
Executive Director
The Pencil Project
www.thepencilproject.org