Your donated clothes can help provide a laptop to a university or vocational student in a developing country!

 

Children of the Nations has partnered with Value Village through their FUNDrive outreach program. FUNDrive collects gently used clothing that can be resold at Value
Village. They pay nonprofits by the pound for what they’ve collected. 

 

We are using these funds to purchase laptops for university and vocational students in our program. 

 

Here’s a few ways you can give: 

 

• Gather your gently used clothing, put them into bags, and drop them off on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Children of the Nations’ warehouse in Silverdale. 

 

• If you live outside the Silverdale/Kitsap county area and are interested in starting your own clothing drive, contact Dave Schertzer at 360-633-1621 or at daveschertzer@cotni.org.
All you have to do is gather the clothes, and Dave will take care of the rest. 

 

• Contact Dave Schertzer to learn about more ways you can support our efforts to provide laptops for university and vocational students. 

 

 

Since 2018, generous donors have donated enough clothing to raise $3,950, which equaled 10 laptops for our students! Our ultimate goal is to give a laptop to every university and
vocational student in our program.

 

“It’s exciting to have an easy way people can make a huge impact for our students,” says Dave Schertzer, the Chief Resource Officer at Children of the Nations. 

 

A laptop is a priceless gift for a student. It can make all the difference in their education. But many students in developing countries can’t afford textbooks, let alone laptops. 

 

Before Rebecca had a laptop, learning was difficult. “At university, you have so much to write and you have to work within a specified period…[My sister and I] would wait until our friends
finished their assignments so that we could borrow their laptops, and would end up doing our assignments in a panic. Sometimes we handed the assignments in late, which meant a deduction
of marks. Attending university without a laptop is a big challenge.” 

 

Thanks to generous donors, Rebecca received a laptop and no longer had to worry about whether she would be able to do her homework and turn her assignments in on time.

 

“Having a laptop allows each student access to research and curriculum, tools to complete assignments and make presentations, as well as the ability to attend online meetings and lectures,”
says Wendy Brown, the University/Vocational Program Manager for Children of the Nations. 

 

Without a laptop, these students won’t get the skills they need to be successful and prepared for the job market. 

 

Now, more than ever, we know how crucial technology is for a good education, especially during this time when in-person schooling is not always an option. 

 

According to a 2020 report from UNICEF, “The digitalization of society has made ICT skills and access to technology important, but the COVID-19 pandemic has turned these things into essential
human rights in terms of the educational, social, and professional needs of children and young people. The lack of connectivity among the most marginalized populations—children and young people
from poor households and rural areas—places them at an extreme disadvantage, and all but eliminates any chance they might have of participating in the modern economy.”

 

                   

 

by Kelly Flannery