question about charities

[Munsterlander]

Original Post down below - updating the top part to keep track of contributions. Whenever one of you said x or y (e.g., 3 or 4) I took the lower number to be conservative. And a couple weren't specific, so I picked a relatively low number that I think is consistent with what you intended - let me know if you want to adjust.

russianwolf - 2 - RECEIVED
rick1708 - 3 (post said "a few") - RECEIVED
fafow - 5 - RECEIVED
fritz64 - 4 - RECEIVED
super dave - 3 (artist pencil & slimline pen/pencil set) - RECEIVED
mudpuppie - 2 (1 boy, 1 girl) - RECEIVED
dntrost - 5 (3 boys, 2 girls) - RECEIVED
rollerbob - 10 (unisex) - RECEIVED
jkeithrussell - 8 (4/4) - RECEIVED
jim15 - 2 (post said 2 or 3) - RECEIVED
livertrans - 5 (2/2 plus 1 for adult) - RECEIVED
hrigg - 4 (2 atlas, 1 slim, 1 sierra) - RECEIVED
wolftat - 8 - RECEIVED
garymcg - 1 with pouches - RECEIVED
jimmc7 - 5 + extra pouches - RECEIVED

totals: 72

for girls: 12 (so we're ok - unisex is also fine for the girls

specifically for adults: 1

So at this point we're pretty much set. If anybody still wants to participate, post and I'll get one of the guys who had a bigger number to cut out a couple. Or if you want to specify one for MDA staff (I believe there's 7 total of them) that would be fantastic. There's one lady who has done this for over 20 years, I've got a Majestic going to her - but any type of pen is fine and I'm sure will be greatly appreciated.

And since we're clearly OK on numbers, feel free to ship as soon as you care to.

I'm really grateful for and moved by the response. What a great bunch people.

-Mike


------------- Original Post ------------------------------------------

Have no idea where this question might better be posted, and I'm a little concerned that it might be something members aren't supposed to do - if so, I'm sure a moderator will remove this and let me know.

Maybe a couple of folks out there will remember from my introductions post 18 months back that I got into penturning when my son, Ian, passed away from muscular dystrophy 2 years ago. He was a college student and had tremendously supportive friends at school, and I wanted to do something nice and personal for all of them - so crash course in penturning. Sure wish I knew then what I know now about producing a better quality pen, but they were at least from the heart.

The pens I continue to make and sell all result in some amount of the proceeds going to MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association). But my volumes are pretty low, especially compared to you folks who do this for a living. So I have to claim the humble title of hobbyist.

OK, the point - MDA runs a camp for kids with MD every summer. Ian went for maybe 15 years? I can assure you this is a highlight of the year for all these kids. They each get a dedicated counselor for the week who essentially gives them 100% undivided attention doing everything from a ton of planned activities (swimming, fishing, crafts, etc) to just talking about life. The kids love this week and develop very close and lasting relationships with their counselors.

This year the camp in Maryland was a disaster. The first week saw an outbreak of swine flu (flu can be devastating to a child with MD) with I'm told over 60 kids winding up being hospitalized. Due to concerns of a repeat, the second week was cancelled altogether.

So I find myself wanting to do something for these kids, and at least one of the things that comes to mind is to get a neat pen to each of them, but I cannot make this many pens - it would realistically take me a year or more.

The question then is - is it appropriate to put a request out for something like this to this group of people? Part of me thinks 'yes', I constantly see things on the forums where someone is doing something like this for someone. Part of me thinks 'no', this could really get out of hand if everyone started putting out requests for a single pen contribution for one charity or another, and it could really become annoying.

Would greatly appreciate insight from those of you who know if there is a policy on this kind of thing or just have been around long enough to know if people do or don't ask for this kind of contribution.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[fafow]

How many pens do you need? I can certainly send a couple your way. They'll be slimlines or Euros, but they're still nice.

Where is the camp? Back in the early 70's I spent two summers working as a counselor at a camp in the northern hills of Maryland, over the hill from Camp David. A lot of our kids were from DC with behavior problems of some sort. I think they were sent there with the hopes of the camp having a positive influence on them.

 

[Russianwolf]

I could contribute a couple.

 

[Munsterlander]

The Maryland MDA camp is held at Camp Maria (I believe that's the name) - it's in southern Maryland on the western side of the bay, right on the Potomac close to where it empties into the bay. Closest town is Leonardtown. Incidentally, Ian's time at camp I think was a big part of why he chose to go to St. Mary's College of Maryland, which is right down the road.

I don't know the exact number of kids - since 60 wound up in the hospital the first week, the number is at least 60, but probably not much bigger than that. I can find out from the MDA office.

I kind of expected some of you would immediately volunteer, and I certainly appreciate that - but I still want to make sure this is an appropriate post in the first place.

-Mike

 

[jkeithrussell]

I'm sure the moderator will chime in with a "yes" or "no," but in the meantime, I can contribute a few (5-10). Just let me know what you are looking for and when you need them.

 

[Rick1708]

I'm in for a few, just let me know the timing and address. I'm a very new hobbiest, but believe I've done enough now that they'll be OK.

 

[Munsterlander]

OK, just got off the phone with MDA. Those of you with teenage kids will understand the inherent risk in depending on them for precise information. My daughter, Emily, has been a counselor at the camp the past 3 years and it was through her I learned about the cancellation.

The cancellation is correct, but what actually happened is that kids at a number of camps (these are run all over the country) got swine flu (I think the biggest outbreak was in Pennsylvania) and then the national MDA office directed all the local offices to cancel _all_ subsequent camps across the country - because there is such a risk to the kids (they are immuno-compromised). So it wasn't just the Maryland camp that Ian attended, altogether there were something like 30-35 camps that were cancelled.

30-35 camps of 50-60 kids is way more than I would want to try to bite off, so my intention is still limited to the Maryland camp that Ian attended. (If there's another member out there somewhere with MD in the family, I would happily support them if they wanted to do the same thing for a camp in their home area.)

There were 62 kids that were supposed to attend. 22 girls and 40 boys (the most common form of muscular dystrophy, Duchenne, only affects boys - usually there's even a higher ratio of boys to girls).

The national office has now allowed the local offices to schedule some kind of event to do something nice for the kids who missed camp this year. In Maryland what they are planning is a picnic on Aug 23rd with several guests (firefighters with trucks, probably Harley Davidson riders (huge supporters)), etc.). The coordinator at the MDA office was quite enthused at the possibility of these gifts which could be given out at the picnic.

So my thoughts:

1) pens could be sent to me up until about the middle of August (they are confirming dates at various parks - giving myself a little leeway in case they move it up a little)
2) to avoid feelings of inequity from someone getting an Emperor and their neighbor getting a slimline, think kits should be constrained to maybe slims, comforts, euros, and perhaps lower end single-barrel kits
3) if someone really wanted to do a slightly more upscale kit, I would set those aside for the 5-10 adults who run the camp. (Trust me, these people are saints - they get paid next to nothing and have a very difficult, emotionally draining job. Many forms of MD are fatal at young ages, and MDA employees are constantly dealing with death and with families experiencing grief.)
4) Materials are completely up to contributor, but would like to avoid giving a young boy a pen made out of pink ivory - they won't appreciate it - so knowing that there are 40 boys and 22 girls, if folks could say "x male pens" or "y female pens" then everyone would know where we stand on more feminine pens. This is not to say that there has to be 22 pink or purple pens - my daughter loves her 2-tone African blackwood pen. Just trying to guard against the unlikely possibility of 30 pink or purple pens.
5) I will post pics of all the pens.
6) I will deliver the pens to the kids at the picnic, and explain to them what goes into making the pens, and who in general are all the nice people from all over the place that donated the pens. I'll also post some pics from the picnic.
7) Any thank you notes from the kids I will post back into this thread (assuming the thread is OK to have in the first place). A relatively high percentage of the kids (maybe 2/3rds?) have learning difficulties as well and struggle to some extent with writing - but I'm still fairly confident a good number of them will want to say thank you.

My address is:

46 Beacon Hill Court
Gaithersburg, MD 20878

OK, I've been typing this for the past 20 minutes, so if someone posted in the meantime saying inappropriate topic, I'll have to deal with it after I read it.

Thanks in advance to all of you.

 

[Super Dave]

I just finished an artist pencil. It comes with different color lead. Would that work or would you prefer a slimline.

Dave, Cape Coral FL

 

[Munsterlander]

Dave - I think an artist pencil would be great.

I guess "lower-end single barrel pens" warrants some clarification - I would view pens like the PSI Executive in satin or 24K, Polaris (Atlas), black enamel Gatsbys, artist pencils as good examples. I think folks probably get the idea - really just trying to avoid the obvious discrepancies that higher-end kits would cause.

One other thing that occurred to me is that if I'm not able to get reasonably close the 62 (I'll do several myself as well) I don't want to show up and only be able to give one to half the kids. So if you post what you intend to send, I'll tabulate once a day or so and put it up in the first post so the count is visible to everyone. Pls don't start sending anything until it appears we'll be able to get enough - otherwise I'll have to ship everything back to you.

 

[fafow]

Mike,

Based on my experience with this group, I don't think you will have any problem getting 65 pens donated. Put me down for 5. If you need more, let me know.

 

[fritz64]

i am in 4 four pens bob miner

 

[Super Dave]

Put me down for one artist pencil and one slimline pen and pencil set.

Dave Cape Coral, FL

 

[David M]

can do a couple , been making a lot of casing pens latly .
1) casing in copper for boy
1) white acrlic in gold for girl
and like others have said - if you need more just ask .....
David

 

[dntrost]

Put me down for 5
All home brew I would say 2 girls (have pink in them)
3 Boys.

Dion

 

[Rollerbob]

I'm in for ten, but open for more if needed............can be used for boys or girls!

 

[ngeb528]

I'll be happy to send you 6 slimlines. 3 girls/3 boys.

 

[cbatzi01]

I'll send a couple as well.

Thanks!
Chris

 

[jkeithrussell]

I'll do 8 slims, 4 geared toward females.

 

[Jim15]

I'd be more than happy to donate 2 or 3 pens.

 

[livertrans]

put me in for 4 slims, 2 male and 2 female. and one adult pen. Hey everyone dont forget the adults...

 

[hrigg]

I can donate two Atlas, one slim, and one Sierra twist.

 

[Crashmph]

Sign me up for a 4 for either boy or girl!

Any word on the approval of this post?

 

[Rollerbob]

Mike, as is there are 70 pens pledged if everyone thus far fulfills thier commitment. Not sure on the mix of girls and boys. Man, what a giving bunch, makes me proud!!!

 

[Munsterlander]

Sign me up for a 4 for either boy or girl!

Any word on the approval of this post?

I haven't heard anything saying not OK and it's been fairly visible the past day, so I'm assuming it's OK.

 

[Munsterlander]

Mike, as is there are 70 pens pledged if everyone thus far fulfills thier commitment. Not sure on the mix of girls and boys. Man, what a giving bunch, makes me proud!!!

Agreed!

I have now updated the original post with counts. There were a couple of folks that essentially repeated their posts, so we're not quite at 70, but we're good. We could take just a few more (5-6) for the MDA staff, but we're there for the kids.

 

[wolftat]

This sounds like a good cause. If you need more pens, I would be in for a dozen, more if you need them too.

 

[Rollerbob]

This sounds like a good cause. If you need more pens, I would be in for a dozen, more if you need them too.

Neil, aren't you a

 

[Munsterlander]

Anybody know who sells the felt draw-string pouches here on IAP? I'd like to order enough to handle all these pens, guessing it will cost me less here than from one of the external vendors.

Neil, thank you - a dozen is more than we need, but if we make it 8, that should be enough to cover everyone including the staff and have a couple spares in case a crack shows up somewhere. I'll update the original post again.

 

[Rollerbob]

Mike..... GaryMGg, has them for sale in the classified.

 

[wolftat]

Neil, aren't you a

I've been called that before...LOL

 

[hrigg]

Up thread, I edited my post to four, with definite types. Probably only one would be for kids, but distribute them as you like.

Harry

 

[Munsterlander]

Got it, Harry - thanks! That will definitely help with the adults.

 

[Munsterlander]

Pouches ordered - thanks for the pointer, Rollerbob - and Gary is generously thowing in another pen.

Coincidentally, here's an article that just came out talking about camp cancellations due to swine flu - mentions MDA camps.

http://www.reuters.com/article/heal...edType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=22&sp=true

 

[Rollerbob]

Ok, here's my offering. They will go out Monday, Mike!

 

[Munsterlander]

Ok, here's my offering. They will go out Monday, Mike!

The kids are going to love those!!

 

[ed4copies]

Did you want the adult pens to be rollerballs?

Don't want fountain pens, do you?

 

[Munsterlander]

Ed - just PM'd you - but I think your question might be of interest to others as well.

I would say it definitely is not essential that adult pens be rollerballs or fountain pens, but it would great if 1 or 2 were - e.g., for the woman who runs the camp (braver than me!).

I know I've made a ton of roller ball pens and a few fountain pens and, call me crazy, but I still prefer ballpoints - I smear the ink too much with everything else (yes, I made D's in handwriting). But we all know they make a heck of an impression.

Bottom line, completely up to the giver. Whatever somebody sends is greatly appreciated.

-Mike

 

[Munsterlander]

Harry & Dave, your pens arrived safe & sound, and look great! Thanks!!

 

[Munsterlander]

Jim S & Bob - pens arrived today, very nice - thanks!!

 

[Munsterlander]

Dion and James from OK, your pens arrived today - more excellent work. Thanks.

James, I don't know what your id is or if you just sent them without posting here - pls PM so I'll know - I went ahead and just added another name in the first post where I'm keeping track of everything.

Should also say thanks to all you guys who are also sending along pouches - I did buy a bunch (70) specifically for these MDA pens, so it isn't necessary to send the pouches - but I appreciate it very much!

-Mike