The combination of pens we normally receive each week and the incoming pens from the Rockler Turn-A-Thon on June 26th means we have been receiving well over 600 pens per day since Thursday July 1st. With this volumn of pens coming in we were able to ship 1,540 pens just this week alone and we expect to ship over 1,500 this coming Monday July 12th and schedule another delivery later next week. It is absolutely fantastic to be able to make two deliverys a week!
The Master List of Turners and Events is getting so large we will have to break up the content and spread it over several messages this weekend. Eventually we will most likely create a web page however we will continue to keep the list here at SMC as long as possible since it must be updated daily.
Jackie is working several hours each day making lists of the names of each turner from the pens in each box so that she can try to keep the Master List as accurate as possible. If anyone finds an error please send Jackie a Private Message and identify the corrections that need to be made so she can keep our list up to date.
There are more groups of woodworkers joining us each and every week now as we are gaining exposure in magazines, newspapers and other areas of the media and we are pleased to see the number of woodworkers growing so rapidly. From the Rockler TAT we saw a huge boost in new turners and hopefully we will see more donations as we receive more exposure to the mass media. We are still trying to break into the national media so that the Freedom Pens Project can reach the maximum number of woodworkers.
Most of you know that there are over 150,000 military personnel in the Middle East right now and growing. It may be impossible for us to provide pens for every service member but that is our goal and we are committed to keep the flow of pens going as long and as fast as we can.
The number of woodworkers who are supporting the Freedom Pens Project is unknown however we are certainly in the hundreds when you include the individual turners who belong to each of the woodworking clubs and guilds.
Thanks to each of you for your dedication and hard work. We are making a difference and our contribution is truly appreciated by everyone who receives our Freedom Pens.
Please take every opportunity to coordinate Turn-A-Thons whenever you can. These events produce huge numbers of pens and help us to spread the word about our project which in turn means more turners who might join us.
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Originally Posted by Keith Outten
