One of the joys of childhood is to color with crayons. Whether it’s scribbling, drawing stick figures, coloring in the lines or coloring outside the lines, children learn to express themselves and get their first taste of making art by the simple act of coloring with crayons.
Yet it’s hard to image that many youngsters around the world, across the country and even here in our own backyard are so impoverished that their families simply cannot afford even the smallest pack of these childhood treasures.
Eight years ago, local mom Sheila Michail Morovati was at a kid-friendly restaurant with her then-two-year-old when an idea was born. Instead of throwing away the gently used crayons her child had collected from the restaurant, why not donate them to children in need?
And so she did. The idea made so much sense — saving landfills by repurposing — and grew so quickly that it became a nonprofit, Crayon Collection. The charity has partnered with restaurants all over the country to donate their used crayons to under served schools and Head Start programs.
Crayon Collection just held its third annual “Arts and Education” event at Nobu Malibu last Thursday. The sold-out event expected to reach its goal of raising $100,000 that will be used for art programming in public schools and Head Start centers.
“We create programming for children in communities with low income neighborhoods. We provide the crayons for free, the art programs for free, so it’s a real solution to the big issues we’re facing with the budget cuts to our education,” Morovati told The Malibu Times. A chic crowd of 100 people paid up to $500 per ticket for the beautiful luncheon at the Malibu hotspot.
The cost for crayons and other school supplies can add up even for children in public schools. Morovati said the average cost asked for students and their families to pay is roughly $35 in supplies each year.
“Sadly, the teachers are paying and supplementing this cost. Right now, the nationwide average for teacher spending is hitting an all-time high of $900 per year,” Morovati said. “So, we’re trying to offset that cost on the teachers’ personal spending. At least we can cover the crayons. In the areas we’re supporting, the families cannot do that. They can barely get food on the table.
“We go into the lowest income communities,” Morovati continued. “The Coachella Valley community is one of them, Downtown Los Angeles inner city, Compton. We work with Head Start to implement this. We’re also going to be reaching more regions throughout the United States and beyond our borders. The program is free.”
Schools contact Crayon Collection, give their zip code and then are paired with nearby restaurants that have discarded crayons to donate. The charity can also provide standards compliant art projects to be downloaded as well. Last year, the City of Malibu honored the nonprofit for recycling, reducing waste and sharing with the less fortunate.
“We’re one of the only countries that does this — give out free crayons at restaurants and they use them for less than 10 or 15 minutes and then they get thrown away into the trash. That makes no sense to me whatsoever. I think it’s just a shame to do that. With one crayon — so many possibilities can come out of it,” Morovati explained. “The environmental impact these paraffin wax crayons have — they never decompose — there are 150 million per year from restaurants alone going into landfills and schools not having enough money to support themselves.”
Supporters also praised the group.
“I love this organization,” event guest Amy Eldon-Turtletaub remarked. “I come every year without fail to support them because it’s so extraordinary what they’re doing. It’s hard for us to image that there are kids in Los Angeles who don’t have access to crayons.
“She was a mom who saw that there was a need and decided that she would roll up her sleeves and do something, and I think we all rally behind her because we’re so impressed with the work she’s doing,” Eldon-Turtletaub said.
For more information, go to crayoncollection.org
