We Are Right-to-Write
In many parts of the world, owning a pen or pencil is a luxury that some families cannot afford. It is hard to imagine. Receiving an education without a writing utensil is even harder to imagine. Education can help achieve success and stability in a person’s life but without the basics, it is so much harder.
Who We Are
Right-to-Write is a unique and simple program designed to put new and used pens and pencils to good use by collecting and then dispensing them to children in developing countries. Donated pens and pencils are delivered to schools, orphanages, and hospitals by individual volunteers, travelers, and organizations who can distribute them hand to hand, person to person, to children who need them.
Through this effort Right-to-Write achieves many unique positive goals:
- facilitating better education for kids
- recycle pens and pencils that are “extras” in offices, handbags, houses, etc.
- promoting positive global alliances and friendships through direct face-to-face contact
- ensuring delivery and avoiding delivery cost, blackmarkets, and lost goods
How it came to be
On a medical mission to Abancay, Peru, Kim Oppenheimer, packed her suitcases with clothes to donate. She was astonished that it was her pen that people continually asked for, even the nurses.
Again, when she volunteered at a school in Windhoek, Namibia, she saw children using pencils an inch long. She figured if she wasn’t aware of this simple need, many other people weren’t either.
She established Right-to-Write as a way to simply shift an abundance into a functional educational tool for children in developing countries. It’s a simple process that makes each person involved realize the positive impact they have upon one another.
How It Works
The Right-to-Write program demonstrates how easily each one of us can help people in need throughout the world.
Many of us have extra pens and pencils in the back of drawers, on the bottom of bags, when we move, businesses changing logos, school drives, etc. About 200 can fit in a zipoc bag and then a traveler going anywhere in the world can easily carry it int their luggage to hadn’t out to children in a school, hospital or orphanage.
Each ONE of these pen and pencils can help ONE child with their education for about ONE year. These pens and pencils can easily be collected at parties, small get-together's such as book clubs, school drives and through containers left at mom and pop stores.
Our Mission
- To help people embrace the notion that a simple deed, such as recycling or gifting a pen or pencil, a tool to use for education, has the potential to change a child’s life
- To help any child have easier access to education by having proper writing tools, such as a pen or pencil, to encourage their learning
- To be able to deliver pens and pencils directly to a child’s hands at minimum cost
- To be able to connect school-age children in the United States of America with children in other parts of the world
Help us give every child the Right-to-Write
Our Founder
Kim believes every child deserves the Right-to-Write
Our Founder
Kim is a Special Educator/Developmental Specialist in NYC where she does therapy, one-on-one with children ages 1-5, in their homes or preschools. She travels extensively for pleasure and is involved in many projects. On a medical mission to Abancay, Peru, Kim packed her suitcases with clothes to donate. She was astonished that it was her pen that people continually asked for, even the nurses. Again, when she volunteered at a school in Windhoek, Namibia, she saw children using pencils an inch long. She figured if she wasn’t aware of this simple need, many other people weren’t either. She established Right-to-Write as a way to simply shift an abundance into a functional educational tool for children in developing countries. It’s a simple process that makes each person involved realize the positive impact they have upon one another.
