Congrats to our May Agency Spotlight of the Month, Cradles to Crayons! The projects and programs of TOV are made possible by our outstanding partner agencies.

Cradles to Crayons provides children ages 0-12 some of the most important basics of life for free. By partnering with social service organizations, communities that have surplus resources are connected with communities that need access to those resources.

We asked Kayla Furjanic, Volunteer Coordinator, a couple questions about the agency and their involvement with TOV.

1. What is your agency mission?

Cradles to Crayons provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school and at play. We supply these items free of charge by engaging and connecting communities that have with communities that need.

2. What kind of population does your agency serve?

We distribute our items to children living in homeless and low income situations in Chicago.

3. How do volunteers help impact your agency?

We need volunteers for every aspect of what we do, we are built by the community. We have volunteers who host collection drives, roll up their sleeves and volunteer in our Giving Factory, and people who spread the word in their community. We would not be able to serve the amount of children we do without help from volunteers in our door and around the Chicagoland area.

4. How long have you been working with volunteers from TOV?

We have been working with TOV since we began here in Chicago and opened up our Giving Factory, about 9 months ago.

5. Why do you like working with TOV in particular?

TOV volunteers are always very excited and motivated to give back to other folks in Chicago. It is wonderful to host groups that not only work hard in our Giving Factory, but are inclined to spread the word about our mission and model to their networks.

We want to thank Kayla and Cradles to Crayons for their valuable partnership with TOV.