Kids in ex-USSR seek USA penpals (fwd)

[Devin P Browne]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 04:07:12 -0500
From:Rite4Peace+ at aol.com
To: DOREEN.ROSE at nycps.nycenet.edu,
    DORIE_PARSONS_AT_~OKIN-DSO at ccmail.odedodea.edu, dorisann at tenet.edu,
    dorland at next.mc.maricopa.edu, DOTAYLO at eis.calstate.edu,
    DOUG.CANFIELD at m.cc.utah.edu, DOUGHTYC%guvax.BITNET at pucc.princeton.edu,
    DOUGLAS at acfcluster.nyu.edu, dougp at mcs.com, dougshar at tiac.net,
    doullene at southwind.net, doyle at hal.fmhi.usf.edu, dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu,
    DPERKINS at chico.rice.edu, DPERKINS at tenet.edu
Subject: Kids in ex-USSR seek USA penpals

Dear Educator:

     The penpal organization, SAPE, is looking for U.S. residents (ages 10
through adult) to correspond with the thousands of people from the former
Soviet Union who have sent penpal requests to them.  If this activity isn't
appropriate for your subject area or age-group, please pass this information
on to another teacher or youth group leader in your town whose students may
want to participate.  THANK YOU!!!!!!  (Apologies if you have received this
email in duplicate.)

**  All inquiries about SAPE should be sent via postal mail to the address
below.  All SAPE penpals correspond by postal mail - these are NOT email
penpals.
-----------------------------------------------------------
     Since 1989, S.A.P.E. (formerly "The Soviet-American Penfriend Exchange")
has matched up more than 25,000 Americans with penpals in the former USSR.
 The young people of these 15 recently-independent countries are eager to
communicate with their peers in the west.  At present, we have a huge backlog
of penpals from the CIS and Baltic Naitons who are waiting to be matched up
with a penpal in the USA.  Penpals are matched individually by age, gender
and common language.  Americans who do not know a foreign language will be
matched with a penpal who knows English.  This program is for Americans aged
10 and up.  (There are very few foreign penpals younger than 10, due to the
language problem.)  There are also adult penpals available!
     HOW DOES THE PROCESS WORK?  Each person receives from us the name,
address, age, gender, and language(s) of his or her new penpal, along with
detailed information on sending mail to the former USSR.  The penpals then
write to each other directly.
     HOW CAN MY GROUP BENEFIT FROM THE S.A.P.E. PROGRAM? The events of the
past several years have affected every one of these penpals and their
families in
some way.  They all have stories to tell, even those who live in remote
Siberian villages.  Besides contributing to your group's knowledge of other
cultures, current events, and geography, these penpal friendships also allow
young people to practice their writing or foreign language skills and to have
one-on-one communication with a member of their peer group.  While reading
about the various differences in customs and lifestyles, your members also
learn about the similarities that unite us all.  The discovery that young
people on the other side of the world experience many of the same joys,
problems, hopes, and fears that they do, can become the first (but hopefully
not the last) experience that makes participants realize they are members of
a world community, not just citizens of one nation.  Penpal relationships
often turn into lifelong friendships.
     WHAT IS REQUIRED?  There is a fee of $3.00 per penpal, payable by check
or money order made out to "SAPE").  Because the amount of letters from the
former USSR outnumbers those from the U.S. by about 10 to 1, we must
constantly do postal mailings to schools, youth groups, and youth-oriented
media to try to find an American penpal for every person in the former Soviet
Union who writes to S.A.P.E. The $3.00 fee first pays the cost of supplies &
postage to send your penpal information to you and all remaining money goes
toward the cost of mailing sheets like this one to approximately 100,000
schools and youth groups all across the U.S.A.  Please use copies of the
order blank below or send the same information on index cards.
     The following organizations have assisted S.A.P.E. in the form of
referrals and publicity:  The U.S. Information Agency, The Institute for
Soviet-American Relations, The Embassies of Russia and Lithuania, Voice of
America, The Peace Corps, and National Geographic's WORLD magazine.  During
the past six years, regional chapters of the following groups have
participated in S.A.P.E.:  The Boy Scouts, The Girl Scouts, Boys & Girls
Clubs, 4-H, CampFire Girls & Boys, CYO, NFTY, Y-Teens, Big Brothers/Big
Sisters, and AFS Intercultural Programs.  U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers who are
serving as English teachers in the former USSR currently use correspondence
with American S.A.P.E. penpals as part of their class curriculum.  Won't you
help us promote world peace, one friendship at a time?  You can make a
difference!

Please complete form & return with $3.00 per penpal to:
S.A.P.E.  -  P.O. Box 251689  Glendale, CA  91225-1689

Name: __________________________________

Address: _______________________________

City: ________________ State: ____ Zip: _________
Sex: _______________  Age: _______
Languages Known: _________________________
I want to correspond with a
Male: ______  Female: ______  No Preference: ______