Dear Friend,
have you ever considered that the greatest friend you may ever have is someone you have never met, living in a land you have never seen? We can provide you with new friends, in your own age group, in many places. We have over 300,000 members in almost every country of the world, and our club is regarded as the greatest penfriend organisation in the world.
The doors of IPF are open to young and old, male and female, married and single. To each of you we can bring friendship from across the surging seas - through the English, French, German and Spanish languages. Every caste, creed and colour is represented in our club. It includes people from all walks of life - Army, Navy, Air Force, Artists, Bankers, Businessmen, Clerks, Clergy, Computer Programmers, Dancers, Doctors, Engineers, Social Workers, Scientists, Secretaries, Students, Teachers, Technicians, Writers, etc. An IPF member is - EVERYBODY - doing every job under the sun.
Whether your interests vary from a desire to cultivate congenial friendship or to practise a foreign language, to arrange exchange holidays or to develop your hobbies - please be assured that we will provide you with many new, refreshing, exciting and interesting contacts.
Membership is for one year and during that period we will also pass your name to other members. The penfriends we give you will be in your own age group.
If your main interest or hobby is exchanging stamps, then all the contacts we choose for you, will be stamp-exchanging clubmembers. We now have over 6,000 stamp collectors in IPF and we also have our own Stamp Exchange Centre.
A comprehensive programme is available for teachers, school-classes, and all youth groups aged 10 to 17 years.
The pen is mightier than the sword
Before the Internet had ever been conceived, we had already provided an international service, for more than a quarter of a century, to more than 1,500,000 club members. Here are just some of the features of "International Penfriends":
IPF was founded in Ireland on April 7th 1967. It is non-political and non-sectarian. It is self funding and receives no financial assistance from any individual or association. IPF wishes to promote peace, harmony and friendship internationally trough sincere, personal correspondence. To achieve this objective we provide a total of 18 Services to cater for the needs of clubmembers. Each clubmember, whether old or young, male or female, married or single, is supplied with penfriends in his/her own age goup. The fee to join IPF depends on the age of the member.
You will get an address list that includes 14 - 16 addresses.
In an era when there is so much global friction, it is reassuring to realise that IPF is united worldwide through its Representatives. In over 400 homes and offices across the world, computers are humming, typewriters are clattering and pens are clicking. It is our Agency Network busy at work. These representatives are the main arteries to the heart of IPF. They "pump in" the new members from 192 countries thus creating a huge database of 300,000 current members from which we can draw in order to meet your requirements. All our representatives were originally clubmembers. Our first representative was appointed in 1970.
All requiries and application forms are carefully "Screened" and undesirables are rejected. We do not admit inmates of prisons or correctional institutions. We reserve the right to refuse membership to any applicant and to expel, fine or prosecute any member who behaves in an unacceptable manner. (Fortunately, we seldom have to exercise this authority.)
Some people think that "International Pen Friends" is a Dating Club or Marriage Bureau. They don´t realise that at least 50% of our members are already married and at least 25% are too young to even consider marriage. Of course, because letter writing is one of the most personal forms of communication, some of our members do find their life´s partner in IPF, but we must stress that our Club is NOT a marriage bureau. Our function is to provide the most reliable and comprehensive PENFRIEND SERVICE possible.
Here you find more information in English language:
The terrorist attacks in the USA (letter from the new IPF headquarter in Australia)
Media Release - IPF celebrates its 35th anniversary
"Our club is ... of the people, for the people and by the people and our aim is to contribute to world peace, harmony and understanding through international correspondence untertaken by individuals from all walks of life, aged 8 - 90."
Neil O´Donnell, IPF Founder
If you want to join, please klick here.
back
to IPF-Homepage
e-Mail: nikola-hahn@t-online.de
