The Pencil Project

Update on Raffle

dbinford — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:05:21 +0000

As of Thursday, May 15th, 2012:

58 online tickets have been sold! The drawing for the winner is coming up at the end of May. Thank you to all our supporters! Remember only 100 total online tickets are available. You still have an opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child in the highland village schools. Just click on the PayPal button to purchase your ticket! Buy one for your Mom, sister, daughter or spouse for Mother’s Day! Tell a friend about the Pencil Project Quilt Raffle!

Come back soon to check on the progress of our raffle! Thanks!

Dear Friend of The Pencil Project

dbinford — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:26:31 +0000

What can I do to help?

dbinford — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:24:59 +0000

The Winner is …

dbinford — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 19:52:01 +0000

Congratulations to Katherine Deming, the winner of The Pencil Project Quilt Raffle! Ms. Deming is a teacher at Covington Middle School in Austin, Texas. She has encouraged and helped many students to be a volunteer for The Pencil Project. As a part of her continued Service Learning curriculum, she is going to develop an inter-disciplinary unit for the campus based on this beautiful piece of Guatemalan art. Her message to students is that we are all a part of the fabric of the global community.

Thank you to all our wonderful donors! Your donations will be put to work this summer. Doug will be in Guatemala in July coordinating the distribution of school supplies to dozens of highland village schools.

Look for postings from the field this summer.

Handmade from Guatemala

Field Posts

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:08:00 +0000

As you know, our Executive Director, Douglas Rhodenbaugh, has been in Guatemala for several weeks helping with the relief effort. His focus has been on getting schools up and running as fast as possible.

Here are his postings from the field.

July 22 at 7:13pm

Chichicastenango, El Quiche. Lots of work to do to get some of these schools back up and running. Some cannot even be seen above the mudslides.

July 26 at 7:04pm

Got the sweet deal at Piedra Santa bookstore again….20% below cost, and no tax! The entire bodega is full of tiny, yellow 8-packs of crayons, and pencils. The money you sent last week will buy sheet metal and window glass. Thanks everyone!

July 29 at 7:02pm

Update…100 page notebooks now 24 cents apiece…my discount has been pushed from 20% to 30%. Thank you, Libreria Piedra Santa . School is in session. In the damaged schools, there are classes outside when it is not raining. In the ruined schools, I am delivering boxes of supplies…crayons, pencils, map colors, notebooks, and pens to each site…enough for 600 kids,… and they share. I have brokered a few marvelous partnerships with neighboring churches, some literally across the highway. And classes will start when I can get the boxes off the top of the chicken bus. Each basic supply crate is about US$400, and it literally opens the school. I have met in Guatemala City with the owner of an independent bookstore, so I am getting supplies tax free (30%), plus an additional 30% markdown. 100 page notebooks for less than 25 cents apiece…..cheaper than shipping, that´s for sure! I am focusing on the most need first, and the easiest to reach…it is dangerous…but I want to try to get to most of the 83 schools at least once this time.

August 4 at 6:21pm

Still in Huehuetenango…outside of Todos Santos. A world of mud, dogs, more rain, and pencils in a world above the cloudline.

August 6 Friday at 6:31pm

They say that when you are the first to arrive at an accident, you are supposed to tell the victim, ¨The worst part is over¨. I am saying that now…wow what a freezing mudpit, but I am back in Chichicastenango, and the awful situation in Todos Santos Huehuetenango was definitely where the supplies were needed. One last week and only 22 schools left….all around Tecpan and Sn. Juan Comalapa.

Mission Statement

admin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:43:35 +0000

The mission of The Pencil Project is to assist underprivileged rural Guatemalan school children realize their educational goals through the donation and transport of essential school supplies.

Its corollary focus is to support and encourage the character development of American students through service learning, civic involvement and global awareness as they participate in meeting these basic educational needs of their Guatemalan counterparts.