Bronx Student’s Flower Pen Fundraiser A Hit on Valentine’s Day

Sometimes the best way to fundraise is by thinking outside of the box. We’re featuring a guest blog by Alexa Sanchez, a senior at Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice and a buildOn student intern, writes a guest blog about how she made a quick $123 (expenses deducted) by selling 100 flower pens made out of duct tape. All of the proceeds will go to building a school in Haiti!

By Alexa Sanchez

The duct tape rose pen fundraiser for Valentine’s Day 2013 was a great success. Although the labor was tedious, the pens were purchased right out of my hands on my way to class.

My buildOn Program Coordinator, Umair Ilyas, and I came across the duct tape rose pens idea while searching crafts made from duct tape. We thought about making duct tape ties and wallets, but wanted the project to be easy. With Valentine’s Day coming up, we officially decided on duct tape rose pens. At first, we only started with red roses. After using all the tape, we bought tape with different designs: digital camo, color splat, retro squares and more pink! Our challenges included deciding on patterns, what color ink would be preferable among the students (black or blue), and assembling a reliable team to make the flowers.

I spent a lot of free time designing them because I was making several, but they’re easy to create. When I first arrived at school with 45 pens in hand, teachers, students, and even the security guards stopped me in the halls. The adults were very excited to buy them for their children, and the students shared them with their friends and parents.
By the end of the week, people were walking into my classes to ask when I would be making more.

It was a great success!