Your unwanted pen is someone else's education

Want to do a good deed and get rid of some clutter?

I recently had a tidy of my studio, which, doesn’t look noticeably tidier, but trust me, it’s better organised and I got rid of a fair bit of stuff from the cupboards and boxes.

One of the things which left me perplexed was the number of unnecessary biros and pencils I’d accumulated, which I wasn’t sure of the best way to usefully dispose of. I’d already bagged up some canvases and other creative gubbins for a local charity shop happy to take creative supplies off me, but doubted they’d have much call for some quarter used pencils!

A quick hop around the internet later I found www.pensforkids.co.uk. They help out underprivileged kids in a wide range of countries by handing out the most basic of supplies like pens, pencils, crayons, erasers, because often it’s access to these simple solid resources which matter when it comes to a good education.
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I had a prod around their website and found that they’re “free of any political or religious influence, motives of economical or any interests other than helping kids in developing countries to get an education” and run entirely by unpaid volunteers.

As they doggedly test all supplies, then package and send them on to distribution points, I decide that I could spare a few minutes and extra pennies to test and send myself – having asked for a list of their “Ambassadors”.

It was a bit thrilling, but also strange, deciding where my two packed jiffy bags should go, but I settled on one to Uganda and one to Pakistan.

Hopefully my unwanted implements will go on to useful and productive new lives!

So for a simple but rewarding thing to spend twenty minutes on, why not prod around your drawers, pots and other places of dumping, and see what pens, pencils, rulers, erasers, and sharpeners you can spare?

​Your unwanted biro is one less problem for a child to worry about when it comes to getting an education.

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