Amazing Kids! PenPals - Building a Lifetime of New Friendships, While Improving Your Child's Reading and Writing Skills

Celebrating the Achievements of Children^TM

Welcome to

Building a Lifetime of New Friendships, Two Kids at a Time^TM
Amazing Kids! PenPals and Hurricane Survivors from Estelle Elementary School,
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, holding their letters to their Amazing Kids! PenPals
at Action Day Primaries Plus Dance School in San Jose, California

About the Amazing Kids! PenPals Program	As seen in Parenting Magazine! "Amazing Kids (Amazing-kids.org/AKPen Pals.html) is a great site that'll connect kids to real live pen-and-paper friends." Parenting Magazine
Cost of the Program
Press
Why Kids, Parents and Educators Love the Amazing Kids! PenPals Program
Testimonials
Frequently Asked Questions
Privacy and Security Policy
How to Register for the Amazing Kids! PenPals Program

About the Amazing Kids! PenPals Program

The Amazing Kids! PenPals Program is a literacy-based, traditional letter writing pen pal program, available to all children ages 5-17 worldwide.

Cost of the Program

At $10 per child, per pen pal, our program is a low-cost (and fun!) way to help your child practice their literacy skills, while making a new friend.

Teachers or groups of 15 or more receive a 50% discount, at just $5 per child. Some scholarships are available. Just ask! :-)

Press

As seen in Parenting Magazine!

The Amazing Kids! PenPals program has received rave reviews from kids, parents and teachers, as well as the media!

Parenting Magazine says:

"Amazing Kids (Amazing-kids.org/AKPen Pals.html) is a great site that'll connect kids to real live pen-and-paper friends."

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Why Kids, Parents and Teachers Love the Amazing Kids! PenPals Program

Here are just some of the reasons kids, parents and educators alike love our program:

Children love our program because:

it helps them foster new (and possibly life-long) friendships
it allows them to practice the traditional form of letter writing and correspondence
they love getting letters in the mail from their pen pal!

Parents love our program because:

It offers one of the few remaining choices for finding an established, safe and trusted traditional letter-writing pen pal program for their child or children
Many parents remember having a pen pal when they were children and want to give their child the same positive, fun learning experience
Parents love helping their child or children find new friends their own age and gender
Reinforces communication and literacy skills taught in their child's classroom
Opens their child's eyes to a larger world, and other cultures and traditions outside their own
Teaches interpersonal skills, self-confidence, empathy and understanding for someone outside of themselves
And much more...

Educators love our program because:

it helps them teach their students literacy and communication skills
encourages their students to do more reading and writing
teaches their students global and cultural awareness, geography, social studies, and more!

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Testimonials

Here is just a small sampling of the dozens of testimonials we have received from our members:

" It is like getting a birthday present every time there is a letter in the postbox." L.C., Zanzabar (South Africa)

"This is such a motivating opportunity for my dyslexic son." C.W., California

"I thought writing would be a great way to have my daughter practice her skills and meet a new friend along the way. I read about Amazing Kids! PenPals in a magazine article and it reminded me of when I had a pen pal when I was in school and it seemed like a wonderful idea. My daughter is very anxious to make a new friend." C. B., California

"I will like my kids to know that there are other kids like them in other part of the world. It is such a fantastic way for youngsters to make friends and express themselves." L.C., Zanzabar (South Africa)

"My colleagues in Pakistan are happy to pilot the Amazing Kids! PenPals program at DIL schools. Our schools are serving underprivileged kids and their English language skills are not so strong, but we feel that they will benefit from such a program." Fiza Shah, Chief Executive Officer, Developments in Literacy

"My children are so excited, as I have recently been contacted by my childhood penpal after 24 years. I want them to enjoy the same experience as I did." K.P. , Kentucky

"Thanks again for this wonderful program!" K.P., Illinois

"My daughter just received her pen pal's letter and the click pens. Let me tell you she was thrilled! She came down to my office to show it to me." M.P., India

"Our daughter was thrilled to receive her first letter from her penpal this week, and wrote a letter back to her, which we mailed today. I think you made a good match. Thanks for putting the two girls in touch!" C. S., Illinois

"We have been very happy with our US matches, and I will recommend this program where my children attend school." K.P., Wisconsin

"This is a great opportunity for the kids and they will be very happy when I will show them the form, Because they have never meet or have international friendship yet in their lifetime, so this is the first chance. As this was my prayer to connect the with other children from the international world. God bless you." R.M., Sierre Leone

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Frequently Asked Questions About the Amazing Kids! PenPals program:

What is it? The Amazing Kids! PenPals Program is a traditional, letter writing pen pal program, available to all children ages 5-17. The cost is $10 per child or student. Teachers and groups of 15 or more receive a 50% discount.

Why is there a fee? We are a small, all-volunteer non-profit organization, and the fees help cover our cost of running the program.

How did the Amazing Kids! PenPals begin? The Amazing Kids! PenPals program began as a way of reaching out to the children affected by the devastating hurricanes of 2005. Our hope was that by matching young hurricane survivors with a new pen pal ("buddy"), we could help them in their recovery from the trauma many experienced due to the hurricanes.

The program is now available to all children, worldwide. We continue to welcome teachers, youth groups or agencies who work with hurricane survivors or survivors of any trauma to register their students as well.

How does it work? Parents, teachers, agency directors, etc. sign up their students using the appropriate links below. Amazing Kids! will match students of the same gender and age with other students who may share similar interests and hobbies, based on the information provided on the registration form.

I've completed all three forms and made my payment. What happens next?

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Privacy and Security Policy

The safety of children is our number one priority here at Amazing Kids!.

Amazing Kids! has a strict privacy and security policy for our PenPals program and the Amazing Kids! website as a whole.

We never share, rent or sell personal information about our subscribers, members or website visitors to anyone outside the Amazing Kids! organization. Once a potential match has been found for your child or student (a "match" is another child who is the same gender and age), we contact the parents, teachers or group leaders of both children. At this early stage, we provide each of them with contact phone numbers and email addresses only (no home or mailing addresses). This way, the parents, teachers, or group leaders may speak to each other first by phone, to see if it is good match for them. If they both agree, and their children or students are interested, the children may speak to each other as well by phone.

Only after both sets of parents, or the teachers or group leaders, agree that it is a good match do we then instruct them to exchange mailing addresses. If for any reason a parent, teacher or group leader is not satisfied with the potential match, we will find an alternate match for their child or student.

Finally, we instruct parents, teachers and group leaders to closely supervise the pen pal correspondence, and to read their children's or students' pen pal letters together with them, to help insure that the correspondence is appropriate for their child. We also ask that, the parents, teachers or group leaders help guide their children or students as they write their letters to their pen pals.

Please feel free to email us with any questions regarding our Privacy and Security Policy.

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How to Register for the Amazing Kids! PenPals Program:

There are three forms to complete:

1. Online registration form - This will register your child(ren) or student(s) for the Amazing Kids! PenPals program.

Select from the following:

a. Parents

b. Teachers, Group Leaders, Agency Directors, etc.

2. Agreement form (Adobe .pdf files) - Parents, teachers and youth group leaders need to complete, sign and mail in the appropriate agreement form.

Select from the following:

Non-Parent Agreement Form (group leaders, agency directors, etc.)
Parent Agreement Form
Teacher Agreement Form

Please mail the completed agreement form to:

Amazing Kids!
5267 Warner Ave. Suite 235
Huntington Beach, CA 92649

To speed up the matching process, you may also FAX the agreement to: 714-364-0420. Please follow up by sending the original signed document in the mail.

3. Membership fee/donation form - There are two ways to pay the fee:

a. Online payments: Please complete the online donation form. You may select to either pay the $10 per child/student fee online, using our secure online payment server through Kintera.com, or you may print the form and send in a check or money order. Teachers and groups of 15 or more receive a 50% discount ($5 per student, per pen pal). Some scholarships available.

b. Payment by check or money order: If you prefer to mail in your completed form and check or money order, please fill out the online form, indicating under "Payment Method" that you will be mailing in the form. Then print the completed form and return it, along with your check or money order, made payable to: "Community Partners fbo Amazing Kids!" to:

Amazing Kids!
5267 Warner Ave. Suite 235
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
**Note: Be sure to indicate on the check that the funds are for your Amazing Kids! PenPals membership.

I've completed all three forms and made my payment. What happens next?

Someone from Amazing Kids! will contact you once a match has been found. You will be asked to call the other parent, teacher or group leader of the pen pal Amazing Kids! has selected for your child or student. If both adults agree that the pen pal match is a good one, then the students may begin writing to each other. If the match is determined not to be a good one, Amazing Kids! will try and find an alternative match.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

All of us at Amazing Kids! thank you for your support and interest in our AK PenPals Program! Because Amazing Kids! is a small, all-volunteer non-profit, we rely on your donations to help keep our programs active.

Even if you are not personally registering a child for the AK PenPals program, please consider showing your support by making a donation to our PenPals program today through our secure online donation form.

Thanks for being a Pal^TM!

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