PPAI News: Kids In Need Product Harvest Garners Record Support At Expo


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PPAI News: Kids In Need Product Harvest Garners Record Support At Expo

Issue: 2010jan

Supplier donations went above and beyond during the Kids In Need Foundation product harvest at The PPAI Expo 2010.

Last year’s event at The PPAI Expo 2009 was the first of its kind, resulting in donations from 33 companies valued at more than $18,000. The on-site harvest this year garnered products worth more than $68,000 from 67 companies, all of which will benefit students in Las Vegas’ Clark County School District.

Kids In Need Foundation collects promotional products and incentives for distribution among low-income schools throughout the U.S. At its Teacher Resource Centers, educators can “shop” for items to use in the classroom. Products of every kind are usable, including pens, markers, t-shirts, desk and office products, electronics, toys and business accessories. PPAI has supported Kids In need since 2007 through item donations, monetary gifts and promotional assistance.

Evanston, Illinois-based supplier Dard Products, Inc. (UPIC: TagMastr) got into the spirit of the harvest by donating dozens of products from its booth to Kids In Need, says Dean Salit, Dard national sales manager. “This was our first time to donate,” says Salit. “We gave lots and lots of stuff, from water bottles to calculators to flashlights. It’s all stuff that would be good for teachers and students.”

Salit says the process was easy—since they’d filled out the paperwork ahead of the show, all they had to do was take items off display in their show booth and pack them up for Kids In Need volunteers to collect at the end of the show. “Some of our products don’t travel well, so why not donate them?” he says.

Donating to Kids In Need throughout the year could certainly be a possibility for Dard, says Salit. Sometimes items are incorrectly imprinted or have other issues that make them unsellable; these items are ideal for donating to the organization.

Lesley Walton, Kids In Need manager of gift-in-kind, says the product harvest was her first with the group and she was impressed with the response. “I felt like it went fantastic. The vendors were very responsive,” says Walton. “I couldn’t believe how well it went.”

Walton and two representatives from Las Vegas’ Public Education Foundation spent time visiting booths on the show floor, sharing news about the harvest with suppliers.

“It gave me an opportunity to say that we take donations year-round. A lot of people were not aware of that,” says Walton. She adds that the organization is hoping to participate in more tradeshows in the future, and that upcoming harvests will be as successful as this one.

“I can’t emphasize how wonderful PPAI has been in helping us out,” she says. “It just went so smoothly. We are so happy.”

For more information on Kids In Need and to download a product donation form, click here.

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