Cradles to Crayons

In the greater Philadelphia area, nearly 300,000 children live in poverty. Cradles to Crayons Philiadelphia has helped out children from birth to the age of 12, providing essential items for school and home. Cradles to Crayons Philiadelphia throws annual campaign 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 to help homeless kids feel prepared and excited to learn. Cradles to Crayons goal is to make it as easy as possible to donate. Cradles to Crayons goal is "making it convenient to turn compassion into action.".[1]

Among communities across Massachusetts, C2C is looked to as a leader in the non-profit sector. In 2011, Cradles to Crayons was acknowledged as an innovative grassroots leader and 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 honored to be 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 was honored to serve 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]

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 organizations 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 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 served 47,211 children by providing them with life’s basic essentials.[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 that were committed to working with the organization in hopes of achieving the organization’s goal of helping all children obtain life’s essential materials.[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 an exclusive 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]

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]

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]