OUR PROJECTS
SCHOOL SUPPLY DONATIONS
To Children in Kenya
CLINIC SUPPLY DONATIONS
For Patients in Kenya & Honduras
CRAYON CARE PACKAGES
For Patients in Shreveport Hospitals
For Residents of Central Wisconsin Center
SCHOOL SUPPLY DONATIONS
For Children in Shreveport's Afterschool Outreach Programs
KENYA SCHOOL SUPPLY DONATIONS TO DATE
Pensili's Inaugural Project: school supplies for Kenyan children.
When Jerry's daughter Amber traveled to Kenya in 2019 for the LSU Med School Global Health Elective, she brought jump ropes for the local schools and taught the children in several different villages how to jump rope. Her host mom, "Momma Betty," asked if she could bring school supplies when she returned in 2020 for the school children. Momma Betty founded and is principal of a school for 1st through 8th grade. She said "even if you could bring us your broken crayons, we would be so grateful." Amber was determined to return with new crayons and pencils.
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In August of 2019, Amber was mourning her Dad's second angel-versary and was shopping for school supplies. She decided to buy school supplies in his memory rather than flowers for his gravesite and so Pensili was created!
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Her next global health elective in Kenya was in February of 2020 and she happened to be there on Jerry's birthday. In Kenya, it is customary to give your friends gifts on your birthday. Adopting Kenyan traditions, Amber gave Momma Betty the school supply donations on Jerry's birthday, including pencils, pens, colored pencils, crayons, markers, highlighters, erasers, chalk, index cards, rubberbands, and inflatable globes. Momma Betty tearfully accepted, saying, "Thank you. We cut our pencils into thirds and the children share two students to one pencil and we were down to the last of our supplies. We didn't know what we were going to do. Thank you."
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Unfortunately, COVID halted travel for LSU Med School for 2021 and 2022. Amber had been collecting school supplies throughout that time and when the 2023 elective was canceled, she donated these supplies to local Shreveport afterschool programs.
CLINIC SUPPLY DONATIONS
Pensili collects medical donations for clinics in Kenya and Honduras, attended by LSU Medical School students.
In addition to school supplies, Amber began collecting clinical supplies too. Medications are typically too cumbersome to travel with, so the LSU organization purchases most of its medications in Kenya. However, reading glasses and toothbrushes are precious to Kenyans. Most Kenyans in the LSU clinics use sugar cane or sticks as a toothbrush. Grocery stores in Kenya sell toothbrushes, but they cost 2% of the average monthly income, which is simply not feasible for the LSU Kenyan patients. These patients also need eye drops as nearly every patient suffers from eye irritation from all of the dust and dirt, so Amber began buying bottles of eye drops to bring to Kenya.
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In 2020, Patterson Dental, a dental supply company, donated 200 toothbrushes!
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Again, COVID interrupted travel including our plans to return in 2023. However, LSU medical students were able to travel to Honduras at the end of January 2023. With the help of some kind pediatrics residents, Pensili donated supplies requested by the Honduras clinic, including: 300 tooth brushes, 50 pairs of reading glasses, 26 pairs of baby socks,15 baby blankets, 5 packs of baby wipes, one blood pressure cuff, and an assortment of medical supplies.
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CRAYON CARE PACKAGES
COVID made us get a little creative!
Jerry's daughter Amber spent her birthday in 2022 with her childhood best friend, Denae, and her family. Together, they made dinosaur and butterfly crayon molds. After the third batch or so, Denae brilliantly asked if they could use all of the crayons to make molded crayons for kids in the Ochsner LSU hospitals in Shreveport. Since LSU had not been able to travel back to Kenya, Amber had been trying to figure out what to do for local children; this was the perfect solution! Denae's family made over 200 crayon molds that weekend!
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Crayon Care Packages is currently the main project of Pensili. We began to deliver our Crayon Care Packages to the hospitals on Jerry's 5th angel-versary, August 20, 2022. The kids love them!
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On February 5, 2023, on what would have been Jerry's 84th birthday, Amber delivered the 1,004th crayon care package to the hospital!
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We have continued to make these crayons, and we now have medical students volunteering to make crayons! Stay tuned for more pictures!
SCHOOL SUPPLIES FOR
SHREVEPORT OUTREACH PROGRAMS
The Residents and Students at LSU Health Shreveport joined in collecting school supplies!
These school supplies will be donated to local outreach programs in Shreveport which provide after school education and enrichment for Shreveport children.
Donated through this drive, we gave 4,984 crayons, 900 pencils, 519 colored pencils, 294 markers, 251 pens, 225 pencil cap erasers, 18 handheld pencil sharpeners, 50 mechanical pencils, 16 erasers, 6 globes, 5 calculators, 4 bottles of glue, and 4 rulers.
