About
This project began when Megan Tannenbaum found out that most teachers, families, and organizations simply throw broken crayons away. She knew these crayons could be put to good use and The Great Crayon Project was born.
In just the first three months, The Great Crayon Project has donated over 1,800 crayons and exchanged over 700 crayons!
Collecting Crayons
It all starts with a bag of broken crayons.
Broken crayons are collected three ways:
1 Schools
We do crayon exchanges in schools - students bring in bags of broken crayons and we give them new rainbow crayons on the spot.
2 Organizations
Organizations may not necessarily want to do the exchange, but have broken crayons to contribute to our project.
3 Restaurants
Many restaurants offer crayons to children to color with while they wait for meals. These are often left behind, and subsequently thrown away. Now they are being collected and contributed to our project.
Creating New Crayons
Once all the crayons are collected, they have to be peeled, washed and melted into molds.
We are pleased to have partnered with ARC Otsego, an organization that hires and works with adults who are developmentally disabled. We hire their residents through ARC’s work program to help us peel the crayons. This partnership has become a huge help for our project and we love supporting the residents and ARC Otsego Organization.
The crayons are then melted down into various shapes and sizes and split into three categories: DONATE, EXCHANGE, and SELL
DONATE
We donate crayons to kid friendly events and organizations. Our goal is to encourage art and creativity in children.
We donate everywhere from libraries, to Reading is Fundamental organizations, to children’s hospitals and everything in between.
EXCHANGE
Rainbow crayons are exchanged for bags of broken crayons at schools.
SELL
We sell our rainbow crayons in various shapes and sizes. Once the ongoing costs of our project are covered, all profits go towards buying school supplies for children.