Highlands-Founded Nonprofit Celebrates National Crayon Collection Month

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

With the month of August comes a lot of things: back to school season, warm weather and the approach of the end of summer.

It also marks National Crayon Collection Month, created by Crayon Collection—a nonprofit founded in 2009 by Highlands resident Sheila Morovati—to support teachers.

“We created National Crayon Collection Month to support teachers nationwide,” according to a statement. “It is used as a way for us to show the world that free crayons are everywhere, so that teachers across America don’t spend their personal earnings to outfit their classrooms with school supplies.”

With teachers purchasing things like crayons, pencils, paper, etc., the average amount spent per year is $900, according to information shared by Crayon Collection.

“The truth is, teachers cannot do their job unless their students have much-needed school supplies,” the statement continued. “So, with the Crayon Collection program, teachers and schools can ask local restaurants, churches, community centers like the YMCA to help by collecting crayons all month long. This way, on the first day of school, there are thousands of crayons available for each school.”

Through the Crayon Recycling Program, the organization establishes partnerships with national restaurant and chain hotels that distribute crayons to collect and repurpose them for teachers, instead of the crayons ending up in the trash.

The goals of the program are to: “reignite art programs in American schools, engage a national audience to be stewards of their community and the environment, and create a new sustainability model.”

Palisadians are invited to start a crayon collection of their own by finding a good spot for a box or basket for crayons to be collected in. The nonprofit’s website also offers a downloadable sign for the box.

Then, collectors are asked to spread the word by letting people know that the collection is underway—there is also a downloadable flyer available to share. Crayon Collection asked people to then request local restaurants that provide crayons to young diners if they’d be willing to donate to the collection.

After the crayons are collected, community members find the crayons a new home by selecting a Title 1 school or Head Start Center nearby to donate to.

Morovati explained to the Palisadian-Post that the timing of Crayon Collection Month is a “win-win for everybody involved.” Hosting it in August allows for a bevy of additional crayons to be available to teachers when school starts.

One year, Crayon Collection broke the world record for most crayons collected in one day by collecting more than one million, which Morovati described as a “fantastic experience.”

Additional projects the organization is working on include “Letters for Change,” which encourages students to practice letter writing and use their voices for change by penning letters to First Lady Dr. Jill Biden about the importance of donating crayons to schools for art programs. This program was launched on Earth Day.

Crayon Collection has also partnered with the Getty for its 25-year anniversary. To celebrate, the museum is going into different communities and bringing art, while Crayon Collection provides thousands of crayons.

“Our planet needs all of us to take action,” Morovati concluded of the efforts.

For more information or to participate, visit crayoncollection.org.