Why Parents & Students Love Penguin Patch
Jenny’s Penguin Patch Holiday Shop®, is based right here in Fort Worth, Texas and is a family-owned & operated business. Kay Pierce started the business out of a need for an easier program for PTA/PTOs. As a former PTA/PTO President, Kay has over 25 years of experience helping schools create a unique shopping experience for the kids. The holiday shop is named after Kay’s daughter, Jenny who joined the family business in 2001. Many years ago, Kay was running a holiday shop at Jenny’s school. She delighted in seeing the kids’ smiling faces as they secretly shopped for their friends and family. She set out to create an easier program with no counting of inventory in or out. Kay and Jennifer created a shop that specializes in a new variety of inexpensive gifts every year at kid-friendly prices. When designing our new product line each year, special attention is given to a large selection of matching personalized gifts that are unique, fun, and affordable for every child’s budget. However, Penguin Patch is so much more and has some really cool benefits that set us a part.
Our No Cost No Inventory program is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Our schools never have to count inventory at the beginning or at the end of the shop – NEVER! We know that volunteers run the shop and their time is precious. We never want you spending time counting individual pieces. Your time should be spent helping the kiddos have fun and making memories that will last a life time.
Something breaks or need a replacement? No problem! If an item comes broken to the school, brakes in transit or is lost there is no charge. If an item gets broken, even if it is 2 years after it was purchased at a holiday shop, the Penguin Patch will replace it for Free!! Including shipping to the school or parent. We have so many heart warming stories, but this is one of our favorites: A gentleman called in several years after receiving a “Dad” coffee mug. He used it at his office and his son would often visit. The mug got knocked off his desk and broke. He didn’t want to disappoint his son, but didn’t know what to do. He called the Penguin Patch asking if we still had that mug and wanted to pay for it and have it shipped to his office. He was thrilled when we told him that YES!!! we still had that mug. He was amazed and grateful that we would replace and ship for FREE!
Kid and Teacher Friendly Bonuses! We love giving our schools a bonus when they sign up to host a Penguin Patch Holiday Shop. We try to find the latest and greatest gadgets that your school can truly benefit from. Many of the schools will use these to reward deserving students, as a raffle prize to raise additional money for the school or as a Fall Fest prize! There are so many ways the school can use these bonuses and we are so proud to help in anyway we can. One of my favorite stories was from a school that received a bike. A school received a new bike as a signing bonus and decided to raffle it off. One little boy named Charlie, was chosen in the raffle. He was escorted to the front of the auditorium to receive his gift. When he got to the stage, he told the MC that he didn’t want the bike, that he already had one that he loved. The adult was surprised and kind of taken aback. Charlie continued, “ I want to give my bike to Shaun. He doesn’t have a bike and then we can go bike riding together”.
Gifts That Everyone Loves! One of my favorite things about Penguin Patch is that children and moms pick out our gift line. Each year we have children of all ages come in and tell us what they think of all the merchandise. We want as much feedback from them as possible, from size, to color to wording! We want to know exactly what they would pick out for their mom or dad for example. Then we have moms and dads review the products and tell us what they think is a fair price for each item. This helps us make sure the kids love the gifts and the parents are getting a good value for their money. The stories we get to hear each year are so precious, so we have to share a few more…
- A few years ago a parent/sponsor called in to share this story. A boy named Jack told his father after the family opened up their holiday gifts, that he felt sorry for his Dad. The Dad inquired as to why. After all, he had just given his wife a IPad for her gift. The boy told his Dad “ well you gave Mom, an IPad, but I gave her diamond ring!!
- One little girl, named Sheri, bought her brother a stretchy frog as a gift. When asked why, she replied “ my brother Mikey always asks me for the remote so he can change channels on the TV. I’m tired of him always asking. With the frog, he can fling it and get the remote all by himself!!”
- One of our sponsors, Joanie, called with this story. She always tried to have a special day every month with her son. Just a fun day together. They called it their “date day”. Part of the special routine included the son, who had purchased a special heart necklace for her, placing it around her neck. She only wore it on their “date day.”
Penguin Patch Loyalty Program! Schools LOVE our Loyalty Program and we LOVE being able to reward schools for continually working with us! Schools earn one loyalty point for every dollar they pay us! It works like a savings account for your school. The points can stack up and roll over or you can redeem in March or October each year. All the items in our Loyalty program were picked especially for elementary schools. These items can benefit the school by using it as a raffle item, rewarding a deserving student or even using it to recruit volunteers. One of our most popular ideas is redeeming for our commercial size popcorn machine. Then every Friday host a popcorn sale and raise additional money for the school.
Sharing is Caring makes us the happiest! We are on a mission to make sure every single child at the school can participate in the holiday shop. We want this to be an experience that the entire school looks forward to and leaves the children with memories that will last a lifetime. So, Penguin Patch decided that they would donate free gifts to any student with financial difficulties. When our schools sign up to host a shop they can chose to receive free gifts, we even replenish them during the shop if you run out. It’s so rewarding for everyone involved and we are proud to offer this program.
There are so many reasons to LOVE penguin Patch! We hope that you will host a shop each year and share your stories with us. It is the very best part of our job.
Melanie
