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Cradles to Crayons

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Cradles to Crayons
Founded2002 (2002)
FounderLynn Margherio
FocusCradles to Crayons provides clothing and essentials to children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations.
Location
Key people
Chicago Executive Director: Shoshana Buchholz-Miller
Websitecradlestocrayons.org

Cradles to Crayons (C2C) is a non-profit organization that provides resources such as school supplies and clothing to homeless and low-income children. Cradles To Crayons began in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 2002. Cradles to Crayons has since expanded to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2006 and Chicago, Illinois, in 2016, with its program the Giving Factory. Cradles to Crayons has partnerships in its headquartered cities Boston, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, and Chicago with various news outlets, sports teams, and other organizations.

History

Cradles to Crayons was founded by Lynn Margherio. It officially opened its doors in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 2002 and later expanded to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The organization focuses on recycling children's products in good condition to benefit those in need. In 2011, they relocated to a larger space in Brighton, Massachusetts.

Locations

Philadelphia

Cradles to Crayons Philadelphia throws annual campaigns like their "Ready for School" initiative. This campaign urges individuals and businesses in Philadelphia to help provide resources to local homeless children. The money donated towards this campaign is used to distribute new "Kidpacks", which are filled with school supplies for homeless kids. Cradles to Crayon's claims its goal is "making it convenient to turn compassion into action."[1]

Boston

In 2011, Cradles to Crayons was recognized with the "Partnership of the Year" award from the Boston Business Journal for their work with Staples, and received the prestigious Neighborhood Builder Award from Bank of America. In that same year, C2C was chosen by Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick, to host his inaugural Project 351 event, a day of public service with 8th Grade representatives from each of Massachusetts' 351 cities and towns. This year C2C served again as a site for Project 351. Deval Patrick led a day of community service in the warehouse with hundreds of high schools students from Massachusetts.[2]

Chicago

In October 2016, Cradles to Crayons opened its Chicago location in a 20,000-square-foot warehouse facility titled the Giving Factory.[3] Cradle To Crayons' goal for the Chicago office is similar to the goal of the organization's other locations in Boston, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia.[4] The organization's main objective is to provide underprivileged children with life's basic needs such as clothes and school supplies. Several volunteers within the Chicago community welcomed Cradles to Crayons by contributing to the organization's goal of receiving 16,000 donations, so children above the age of 12 can get off the streets and into a better living situation. Many basic living essentials are donated and are put through a screening process.[3] If the items donated do not meet the organization's standards, they are recycled or given to other charities that may be able to use them.

The Giving Factory

The Giving Factory uses corporate, school, and neighborhood volunteers who sort the donated items based on clothing size, reading level, and interests.[5] Based on the success Cradles to Crayons has had at its Boston and Philadelphia locations, the organization wanted to ensure that all children in Chicago had access to these resources regardless of their families' income.[6] In one year Cradles to Crayons' Chicago office provided 47,211 children with supplies.[7] Cradles to Crayons arrived in Chicago with a plan of creating events for volunteers to work at. In its first year in Chicago, Cradles to Crayons had 6,000 volunteers.[3] In an effort to attract more volunteers to work with the Chicago office, Cradles to Crayons has hosted "behind the scenes" events of its Chicago Giving Factory. Adults that are 21 and over are given a tour of the Chicago factory and get a first-hand observation at the progress Cradles to Crayons has been making in the Chicago area.[8] As of December 2018, the Chicago location appointed a new director, Shoshana Buchholz-Miller, and the organization hopes to motivate more Chicagoans to volunteer at the Giving Factory.[9]

Services and programs

Cradles to Crayons' programs operate year-round to support disadvantaged children across the state of Massachusetts, providing the essentials each child needs to overcome their unique situations and excel both inside and outside of the classroom. C2C collects new and gently used children's items through grass roots community drives. Donated items are then sorted, inspected and packaged into personalized "C2C KidPacks" by volunteers. KidPacks are filled with clothing, shoes, books, arts and crafts, and often birthday presents.[10] KidPacks are brought directly to the families free of charge, through partnerships with hundreds of qualified social service agencies across Massachusetts such as Catholic Charities, The Home for Little Wanderers and Horizons for Homeless Children.[11]

Cradles to Crayons' signature program, Everyday Essentials, operates without interruption; programs are focused with seasonal initiatives. From July through September, Ready for School provides children with the materials they need to feel ready to learn from head to toe, including a special emphasis on providing thousands of new backpacks with necessary school supplies. In 2017, Ready for School served 70,000 children.[12] Gear Up for Winter supplies kids with the cold weather gear that they need to stay warm. During the traditional spring cleaning months, Spring Greening encourages families to clean out their closets and donate their gently used items to C2C. Gear Up for Baby focuses on gathering infant and child safety equipment throughout May and June.

Events

2018

In April 2018, in partnership with Comcast and from assistance from hundreds of volunteers, Cradles for Crayons packaged more than 7,500 hygiene kits for children across Chicago.[13] That same month, CTC also partnered with Metropolitan Family Services in their collaboration with Walgreens, Huggies, and former Chicago Cubs catcher David Ross to distribute 250,000, a $10,000 donation, and 1.5 million diapers to the younger aid receivers.[14] The following month saw CTC partner with television networks NBC 5 and Telemundo along with several Xfinity stores in an effort to gather more donations.[15] Later in August, CTC teamed up with Jordans Furniture by collecting new and like-new clothing and shoes at all store locations and at the Taunton Distribution Center. The total amount of donations were enough to assist more than 3,000 children in need.[16] October saw the nonprofit hold an interactive 21+ event in its factory that showcased daily operations and practices.[8] In December, CTC held an event for volunteers to come into their warehouse on the Northwest side to help meet the increased demand for the holiday season.[17]

2019

In June 2019, Cradles to Crayons teamed up with Jordans Furniture again by collecting new and like-new clothing and shoes at all store locations and at the Taunton Distribution Center. Jordans Furniture donation has helped Cradles to Crayons by collecting enough clothing to provide for 3,000 children.[18] Later in August, Cradles to Crayons held an event in Chicago's Daley plaza to fill 50,000 backpacks with school supplies for homeless or low-income children.[19] In October, twenty locations across Chicago, including the Oak Park Public Library, held that year's annual Gear Up For Winter initiative where gently-used coats and other winter clothing items were collected to later be donated.[20]

Impact

Cradles to Crayons has distributed more than 290,000 packages of essential items to disadvantaged Massachusetts children, including 127,000 backpacks filled with brand new school supplies. In 2011 Cradles to Crayons engaged more than 24,000 volunteers in the "Giving Factory" warehouse to fill 55,000 packages for disadvantaged Massachusetts children. Cradles to Crayons' overarching goal is to eliminate the effects of child poverty throughout the Commonwealth; their short-term goal is to continue connecting communities of need with communities of plenty.

Media

Cradles to Crayons was reviewed by Charity Navigator, an organization which evaluates the financial health, accountability and transparency of America's largest charities.[21]

Cradles to Crayons was featured in the December 2011 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.[22]

References

  1. ^ Washington, Ukee. "Brotherly Love: New Space For Cradles To Crayons". cbslocal. Philadelphia News. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  2. ^ Seidner, Matthew (21 January 2011). "Gov. Patrick leads students in day of service in Brighton". wickedlocal.com. The Allston-Brighton Tab. Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  3. ^ a b c "Cradles to Crayons Announces Grand Opening of The Giving Factory in Chicago". Cradles to Crayons Chicago.
  4. ^ Cradles to Crayons. "Our History". Cradles to Crayons.
  5. ^ "New Nonprofit Gives Needy Kids Clothes They Can Be Proud Of". WTTW News. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  6. ^ Rotti, Jessi. "New nonprofit aims to support Chicago's underserved children". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  7. ^ Salkovitz, David. "Cradles to Crayons Celebrates its First Year of Community Impact in Chicago". Patch. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Innovation Through Sustainability with Cradles to Crayons". Chicago Ideas. Chicago Ideas. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  9. ^ Dorfman, Daniel I. "Shout Out: Shoshana Buchholz-Miller, a new director at Cradles to Crayons from Wilmette". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  10. ^ English, Bella (27 February 2005). "Cradles to crayons: the need is filled; Volunteers recycle toys and clothes". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  11. ^ Moore, Mary (24 December 2010). "Cradles to Crayons is a good fit for their giving". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
  12. ^ "Cradles to Crayons seeking clothing donations". Wicked Local Waltham. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  13. ^ "Hundreds of Volunteers Come Together at Cradles to Crayons to Assemble 7,500 Hygiene Packs and other Essential Supplies for Disadvantaged Chicago Children". Comcast Greater Chicago Region. 2017-11-04. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  14. ^ "Oh, baby! Walgreens and Huggies partner to donate funds & diapers to Cradles to Crayons, benefiting Metropolitan families". Metropolitan Family Services. 2018-04-12. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  15. ^ "Making a Difference: How to Help 'Cradles to Crayons'". NBC Chicago. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  16. ^ "Jordan's Furniture Donation to Cradles to Crayons Helps More Than 3,000 Children in Need". Furniture World Magazine. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
  17. ^ "Volunteers make sure donations find good homes during a season of giving". WGN-TV. 2018-12-09. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  18. ^ Ledoux, Nic. "Jordan's Furniture Donation to Cradles to Crayons Helps More Than 3,000 Children in Need". Furniture World. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  19. ^ "Volunteers fill 50,000 backpacks at 4th annual Ready for School Backpack-a-Thon". ABC7 Chicago. 2019-08-21. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  20. ^ Schering, Steve. "Oak Park Library event to collect winter clothing items for needy children". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
  21. ^ "Charity Navigator Rating". Charity Navigator. Retrieved 2011-11-03.
  22. ^ "16 Ways to Make an Incredible Impact With Less Than $15". O Magazine. December 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
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