Crayons for a Cause!

Over the past month, our board has been working to limit end-of-school-year waste! We worked with two elementary schools (Oliver Wendell Holmes Elementary School & Horace Mann Elementary School) to collect used and broken crayons from students. Many times, end-of-year cleanouts result in used school supplies making their way to the landfill. But, instead of throwing these crayons out, we are sending them to a local non-profit organization called SCARCE.

Specifically, we are using SCARCE’s Super Crayons project to effectively reuse these crayons. Once we bring our collected supplies to the organization’s headquarters, SCARCE will melt the crayons into liquid mixtures. Then, the mixtures will be poured into large molds in a variety of shapes (like triangles, stars, and leaves) so the new crayons can be used easily by kids with special needs.

I was so excited to work on this project for a couple of reasons. First, I was so excited that our work would help a social justice issue in addition to benefiting the environment. My mom works with children who have disabilities, so I have always been aware of the need for inclusive practices. Also, I was able to reconnect with one of my elementary school teachers at Holmes while Jackie reconnected with her former Mann teacher and their Green Club during this project! Visiting my old school and establishing the project with the help of my former teacher made it more special and personal to me.

Overall, the crayon drive was so successful and fun to work on! We ended up collecting over 120 pounds of crayons and will be dropping them off at SCARCE soon. That’s the equivalent of approximately 11,000 full-sized crayons that didn’t go to the landfill!

Thank you to Ms. Rehfield and Ms. Baylian for working with Clean Up - Give Back (OPRF Chapter) to make our project possible.

If you have old or broken crayons in your house, check out SCARCE’s website! They have easy drop-off procedures and are still collecting crayons.

And, thank you to Oak Park Township's & River Forest Township's Youth and Family Services for their generous support.