Creativity and Good Cause At Heart of Gelly Roll and Teen People Celebrity Valentine Contest.

Business/Entertainment Editors

HAYWARD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 2000

Sakura of America, the company who makes the popular Gelly Roll pen, is playing Cupid with Teen People for the "My Heart Belongs to Gelly Roll" Valentine's Day sweepstakes. The randomly picked winner will get to present valentines, in person, to the teen celebrity who received the most entries submitted to the magazine. The issue of Teen People will be on newsstands in January.

With the motto, "The Power to Express," Sakura's Marketing Director, Donna Wilson, feels the sweepstakes is a perfect fit for the company, "This sweepstakes integrates much of what we do here at Sakura. Teens will go out of their way to create a real special and individualized valentine that will personally speak to their favorite celebrity."

Wilson adds, "This kind of event points to one of the reasons we invented the Gelly Roll Journal -- to give people a complete vehicle for expressing themselves and putting it down on paper for fun and posterity."

Wilson continues, "By partnering with SHiNE365, teens will be aware of a wider perspective at the same time they send their valentines." Along with their valentines, entrants are asked to send $2 that will be donated to the organization.

SHiNE365 is an organization devoted to preventing teen violence through a variety of programs, including mural projects, in-school peer clubs, public events such Mall Speak Outs and Teen Town Halls, and by distributing lesson plans and activities to more than 10 million students each month.

Founded by Alan Rambam, SHiNE is an acronym for Seeking Harmony in Neighborhoods Everywhere 365 days a year. After starting his own children's marketing firm, Zoot Suit, Rambam left the business to devote more time in helping to make the world a better place for all young people.

Rambam has also been appointed as the Director, National Youth Campaign for the White House's National Campaign Against Youth Violence (NCAYV). The organization was started at the request of the White House to develop a comprehensive national strategy, harness resources to address youth violence in order to provide effective prevention programs.

Rambam's work is done largely in honor of his mother, a schoolteacher who worked with at-risk students before she was killed in a hit-and-run accident in 1989.

Whether it's a valentine or a more serious issue, teens can use Sakura's Gelly Roll Journal to put their thoughts down on paper. Besides producing 52 current colors of Gelly Roll pens, Sakura makes the Gelly Roll Journal. Each journal comes with one of four stencil design themes -- Bugs, Elements, Love and Space -- and includes two of the popular Gelly Roll metallic ink pens as well as 25 black pages and 40 white ruled pages. "The idea for the four themes of the journal inspires creative and reflective thinking," states Wilson.

To enter the sweepstakes, entrants must send a valentine along with a 3" x 5" card with their name address, phone number and age, and $2 which will be donated to SHiNE365. To find out more about the sweepstakes, go to www.gellyroll.com and to find out more about ShiNE365 go to www.shine365.com.

Other products from Sakura of America include SumoGrip(R) pens and pencils, innovative Pigma(R) pens, the Cray-Pas(R) family of oil pastels.

Headquartered in Hayward, CA, Sakura of America is the U.S. subsidiary of Sakura Color Products Corp. of Osaka, Japan.