Hold a pennies for pencils drive to raise funds for children in Africa.  This service learning activity will get children thinking globally and working towards a better world.

What is a Pennies for Pencils Drive?

A “Pennies for Pencils” drive is a campaign to raise funds to send school supplies to children in Africa. Children in Africa lack the resources for simple school supplies like pencils. A Pennies for pencils drive raises awareness and funds to purchase supplies for African students.

Introduction to Pennies for Pencils Drive

To start raising awareness read ​the book “Rain School” By James Rumford.

It is the first day of school in Chad, Africa. Children are filling the road. 
“Will they give us a notebook?” Thomas asks. 
“Will they give us a pencil?”
“Will I learn to read?”

But when he and the other children arrive at the schoolyard, they find no classroom, no desks. Just a teacher. “We will build our school,” she says. “This is our first lesson.”

James Rumford, who lived in Chad as a Peace Corps volunteer, fills these pages with vibrant ink-and-pastel colors of Africa and the spare words of a poet to show how important learning is in a country where only a few children are able to go to school.

How to run a Pennies for Pencils Drive

Once you have read the book and got kids on board for fundraising for the cause fill out the online drive registration form www.developafrica.org. You can find more information at the site as well.

Have kids make posters to raise awareness and promote the “Pennies for Pencils” Drive.  Post posters around school and ask people to bring in supplies or pennies to donate towards supplies for students in Africa. Ask kids to them write letters asking for support to the newspaper, for parents and anyone else they can think of. If you have easy access to a computer have students start a social media campaign to alert the community.

As items come in collect donations and ship items to Develop Africa.

Ship to:  
Develop Africa
1906 Knob Creek Road, Suite 3
Johnson City, TN 37604, USA
Phone: 423-282-0006

Supplies you can donate to Develop Africa

• Solar lights for use by children when studying. Many children have to study using hazardous kerosene lanterns. Cost about $40 to $50. You can order a S300 Solar LED Lantern  
• Backpack and other book bags  
• Calculators  
• Spiral bound, composition and other notebooks
• Filler paper  
• Binders  
• Colored pencils, crayons and markers  
• Ruler with English and metric measurements  
• Colored pens
• Netbooks / Laptops e.g, XO, Asus laptops.    
• Erasers  
• Pencil box  
• Glue sticks  
• Graph paper  
• Pens and pencils  
• Pencil sharpeners (individual and classroom)  
• Pocket dictionaries  
• Pencil cases  
• Reams or boxes of paper