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January 2021 • ALAMO TODAY & DANVILLE TODAY NEWS • PAGE 1
& JANUARY 2021
THE CRAYON INITIATIVE OF DANVILLE SENDS BIG HEARTS, TINY HOUSE By Fran Miller RAINBOWS COAST TO COAST
By Jody Morgan
Each crayon carton produced by The Crayon Initiative (TCI) holds the hope and promise of a rainbow. Delivered to 248 pediatric care facilities across the country, the specially designed crayons help young patients cope with the stress of extended hospital stays or unexpected emergency room visits. Each pack also proves that popular products like crayons can be transformed into treasure rather than being treated as trash. Thanks to the ingenious process TCI Founder Bryan Ware developed, instead of lingering as Susan Woo pours wax into the crayon mold. Photo provided a waxy sludge clogging by Kristen Hoffman. landfills, recycled crayons collected by TCI give hundreds of thousands of pediatric patients the chance to put their imaginations into play and enjoy a normal childhood activity. During a 2011 birthday celebration with his family, Bryan Ware asked what happened to crayons the restaurant gave young diners. Health code mandated that even unused crayons once placed on a customer’s table had to be thrown out. Restaurants discarded an estimated 150 million crayons annually. Made of paraffin wax, a petroleum by-product, they do not biodegrade. Crayola alone manufactures nearly three billion crayons a year TCI crayons include all the colors children need to color -enough to circle the globe their favorite superheroes and express their fears and six times! Impelled to do dreams. Photo provided by TCI.
See Crayons continued on page 10
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PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Permit 263 Alamo CA
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When friends Lexi Gates and Abbie Bly sought a meaningful project to undertake, they examined their respective strengths. The 16-yearold Danville residents, who are juniors at The Athenian School, share a natural curiosity for engineering, design, environmentalism, and service. They both had been trained at school on machinery, and Abbie had previously participated in building projects. The combination of their shared interests and experiences led them to the Tiny House Initiative, and they are now in the process of building a tiny home that they will donate to Operation Dignity, an organization dedicated to helping those experiencing homelessness in Alameda County. The non-profit works with the City of Oakland to operate sites that provide very low-barrier shelter, basic needs (food, water, hygiene supplies), and services to help people connect to housing and other community resources. “We both knew right off the bat that we wanted to donate the house to someone in need,” said Lexi. “COVID has exacerbated the homelessness crisis with a lot of people losing their jobs and homes, so we are hoping that this tiny house provides a small solution in helping people out. Through some research, we found Operation Dignity. They were super open to the idea and gave us freedom for what we wanted to build. We
Lexi Gates and Abbie Bly sit on the utility trailer that will hold the tiny home build.
went to visit the site, and they showed us where the tiny house would go and what its intended use would be. The organization wants to use the tiny house as a community center so everyone can use the house. We will build the tiny house with a loft for a bed, just in case they want to use it as a resident home in the future.” The girls are building the house on an 18-foot utility trailer, which will allow for easy transport to Oakland. The house will have a kitchen area, couch, desk area, storage, and a loft. In the interest of environ-
See House continued on page 18
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Volume XXI Number 1
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