A Colorful Cause for Kids

Cradles to Crayons provides kids with the essentials to thrive – at home, at school, and at play. 

In a small warehouse only a few minutes from Jefferson’s East Falls campus, big things are happening. How big? The lives of thousands of families benefit daily from the good works of the dedicated people at Cradles to Crayons. From food to games (and yes, crayons), kids get the essentials to live and play.

Cradles to Crayons is a nonprofit organization that collects new and gently used children’s items for low-income or homeless families. In Philadelphia, the deep poverty rate is the highest in the nation, where 40% of children are living in low-income homes or in poverty. 70,000 local children are assisted annually through this program and given essential everyday items free of charge.

A unique way they present items to families is through their KidPacks. These bundles include everyday clothing, shoes, personal items, and other essentials specialized for children who are lacking basic necessities.

Recently, the group moved to its new warehouse location at 4700 Wissahickon Ave, enabling it to host many more volunteers as well as continue to expand to serve more children—as many as 100,000 children in the Philadelphia area. While visiting recently, I was given a tour of the space where all of the items are separated and bundled together, also known as “where the magic happens.”

My favorite part of this group’s activities is their annual initiatives, where they dedicate a specific time of the year to a particular need for children. Currently, they are in their “Spring Greening” initiative, which runs from March through May and focuses on reducing waste and recycling gently used children’s items, so the environment also is thanking us.

Cradles to Crayons is holding an official grand opening and ribbon cutting to promote their new factory. Come out May 18th from 10 AM–12 PM. It’s an incredible opportunity to support a powerful organization that is positively impacting our community.

Cradles to Crayons
Cradles to Crayons provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school and at play. We supply these items free of charge by engaging and connecting communities that have with communities that need. @C2CPhiladelphia
4700 Wissahickon Ave (map)
215-836-0958
FACEBOOK

About the Author
Winnai Hoyt is currently a freshman at Jefferson University, pursuing a major in Marketing with interests in advertising and social media. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter and as a key player on Jefferson’s softball team — Go Rams!

About The Local 168 Articles
The Local byline reflects community-created content (usually from social media, often from audio/video sources) that we've collected and edited into an article for our website/newspaper.

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