Ellie Monger, an eighth grader at the Gates Intermediate School in Scituate, created "Wish Upon a Crayon", a charity that recycles crayons to help kids in need.
“I feel like I have so much and I need to give back to the community,” said Ellie Monger, Gates Intermediate School.
The idea came to her after a dinner out with her family.
“We noticed how the waitresses and waiters just threw away crayons and so I thought maybe I should just start a charity with my dad and recycle the crayons and donate them,” said Ellie.
Ellie got right to work. She set up collection bins in churches and schools and got buckets full of old crayons.
After learning the proper way to melt them down, she got cooking.
“So we crushed crayons, and it takes five or six to make one recycled crayon,” Ellie said.
After some trial and error, Ellie settled on one cool shape.
“Yeah, we’re sticking with stars. And sometimes we make crayons with 5 different colors so they can rotate it,” said Ellie.
Now, along with a new coloring book, Ellie donates them to kids in homeless shelters.
“I got to go in and I saw the children playing with them, so it was really nice and really rewarding to see them playing with the crayons,” Ellie said.
Ellie’s friends said her charity has inspired them to do more.
“I definitely want to volunteer. She has definitely got me into volunteering, so I think I’ll do that more,” said Natalie Talbot, Ellie’s friend.
You can get involved because Ellie’s charity “Wish Upon a Crayon” needs new coloring books to go with the crayons.