The Crayon Initiative is a Danville-based nonprofit making a national impact despite having no paid staff. Since 2013, the organization has collected millions of used crayons and recycled them into new crayons packaged into crisp packs of eight. These packs are delivered free of charge to pediatric patients at more than 260 children's hospitals across the United States, including 10 in the Bay Area.

In September, The Crayon Initiative was recognized as Nonprofit of the Year 2024 by the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce. The nonprofit will ship its millionth pack of crayons out on March 31, 2025, also known as National Crayon Day, according to Bryan Ware. Ware founded the organization after realizing the crayons his children had used at a local restaurant were tossed out after their meal. Crayons, which are not biodegradable, were going into landfills. Ware wanted that to change.

To appreciate the impact of The Crayon Initiative’s work, it helps to know that hospital Child Life Departments are responsible for helping pediatric patients feel as normal as possible during their stays. Specialists are responsible for helping patients and families in a variety of ways. Child Life budgets are not large, Ware says, and departments may offer only limited art supplies.

“When we gave packs of crayons to UCLA Children’s Hospital, the first comment was, ‘Now we have all the colors, and our kids can make fairies and princesses and superheroes, all the things that they want to do,’” Ware notes. “Instead of one child getting red and blue today and another getting green and yellow, every child could get a range of colors.” By giving hospitals free crayons, “we took crayons out of the hospitals’ budgets as a line item, which allows them to spend that money on something else.”

Some pediatric patients use their crayons to communicate with their family by sending drawings home. Others simply find relief in the creative outlet of coloring. When one reporter asked a child what she thought about when she colored, the child said, “Nothing. That’s exactly why I color."

Ware’s background in logistics, supply chains, and manufacturing was put to use in designing an effective system for collecting old crayons, stripping off their wrappers, melting them down, and creating new, more child-friendly art supplies at the nonprofit’s downtown manufacturing facility in Danville. Early on, an occupational therapist recommended an improved crayon form, so the nonprofit’s crayons are large and three-sided. That size and shape makes them easier for children to hold and means the crayons stay on hospital trays instead of rolling onto the floor.

Like many nonprofits, The Crayon Initiative has struggled to regain financial stability since the pandemic. “We do not charge the hospital a dime, not even for shipping,” notes Ware. “There are a lot of costs to get your used crayons into a new crayon, into a pack, into a child's hand at a hospital, whether that's ten miles away at John Muir or three thousand miles away at NYU hospital. There's a very high overhead cost for doing this, and we welcome business and community support.”

The Crayon Initiative has hosted corporate team building events in the past, and it is open to doing more. Ware also encourages business executives to consider sponsoring the nonprofit as it nears the milestone of one million packs of crayons. Golfing fans can help The Crayon Initiative by sponsoring or participating in its annual golf tournament fundraiser, The Crayon Classic. The next one is scheduled for Monday, June 9, 2025, at the Bay Club Crow Canyon in Danville. The event will include an after tournament dinner and entertainment, on course contests, and souvenirs.

For more information about the Crayon Initiative, please visit https://thecrayoninitiative.org, www.facebook.com/thecrayoninitiative, www.instagram.com/thecrayoninitiative, or www.linkedin.com/company/the-crayon-initiative.

Photo by: Lara George