Crayon craziness: North Canaan students help cancer patients

NORTH CANAAN — The war is over. Let the peeling and sorting begin —of more than 160 pounds of crayons, that is.

Let’s see, given that one crayon weighs about an ounce, and that many crayons have been used to varying degrees, well, let’s just say that translates to thousands of crayons.

A “crayon war†at North Canaan Elementary School culminated Feb. 2 in a crayon-strewn cafeteria where families peeled the paper off the crayons, sorted them by color and donated them to Crayons for Cancer.

The PTO-sponsored event encouraged the donation of a seemingly endless supply (at least to those doing the peeling and sorting) collected in a competition among the classrooms. Linda Peppe’s first-grade class earned the pizza party, with more than 18 pounds of crayons. Second place were Tracy Augustine’s fifth-graders, with more than 16 pounds, followed closely by  Shelby Diorio’s fourth-grade class.

The bigger picture is an effort that began with a simple idea.

The Christiansen family (Tim, Charlene, Emily, 7, and Ethan, 5) live in Manchester. They attend the Wethersfield Evangelical Free Church, which takes part in a sort of “pay-it forward†challenge.

A small amount of cash is given to members, who must parlay it into a way to help someone else. Tim and Charlene each received an envelope with $20. A friend gave them the $10 she had received. A lot of thought and prayer went into potential ideas.

One day, out of the blue, as Charlene walked Emily to school, their crossing guard, Shirley, handed her a bucket of used crayons. Shirley knew only that her kids had grown too old for them.

But it was then-6-year-old Emily, who had lost her friend TJ to cancer just before his fourth birthday, who came up with the idea to melt and remold the crayons. She remembered her mom doing that when she taught pre-kindergarten.

“The light bulb just went off over my head,†Emily said. “I wanted to do something to remember TJ.â€

“We used the $50 to buy molds, and got melting,†Charlene Christiansen said. “It’s TJ’s legacy. His parents are very touched.â€

They began selling their special crayons wherever they could in November 2008. In a little over a year, Crayons for Cancer has taken over a large portion of their home, has its own Web site, and rallies schools and others across the state to help families of kids with cancer at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford.

“It goes into the Family Fund at the hospital, which helps family with things like parking, or a meal in the hospital cafeteria. It’s like a hug from a friend,†Charlene said.

The Christiansens travel around the state, about once a week, and meet with groups collecting and processing crayons, spreading their message and adding to their endless crayon supply. Last week, they came to North Canaan.

This small grassroots effort is spreading and growing.

Restaurants such as Friendly’s and Bertucci’s, who give crayons to young patrons to color placemats, are now donating crayons left behind at tables.

Tim devised, out of a stair tread, plastic pipe and other odds and ends, a contraption that neatly slices the paper on the crayons, without threatening little fingers. It makes peeling a cinch.

The effort is having a profound effect in unexpected ways.

Tim related the story of a severely autistic girl who has been drawn out of herself to a degree while sorting crayons by color.

A teacher at Manchester High School offered to take crayons and have them peeled by students in detention, as a punishment.

“I think it may have backfired,†Tim said. “Apparently the kids like it.â€

He could not say if it has had an impact on the number of students receiving detention.

In December, Crayons for Cancer donated $2,000 to the Family Needs Fund at the Minneapolis Children’s Hospital, and has begun raising funds for The Tomorrow Fund at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Rhode Island, marking the launch of statewide efforts in those states.

And so it grows.

They had set a fundraising goal of $200 with their first sale. They took in more than $350. Seven months later, they hit the $4,000 mark, during a trip to Los Angeles where Emily and their church received a Well Done Award.

She was thrilled with the unique trophy, which has her name printed on it. And she got to meet “American Idol†contestant Sanjaya Malakar and “iCarly†star Nathan Kress.

“I had to get up and speak in front of about 1,000 people,†Emily said. “I was a little nervous.â€

The North Canaan Elementary School PTO plans to continue to support the effort.

To order crayons or to find out about ways to help, go to crayonsforcancer.org.