Elected officials, board members and donors were in attendance at the grand opening of the new Cradles to Crayons’ Giving Factory in Brighton, on Tuesday.
The new location is triple the size of the organization’s original space in Quincy, said Manager of Corporations and Foundation Relations Chris Bentson, making it a “convenient avenue to get the supplies from point A to point B.”
Founded in 2002 by CEO Lynn Margherio, Cradles to Crayons has supplied about 45,000 children, from newborns to 12-year-olds, with school and hygienic supplies, clothing and toys.
“Cradles is doing a wonderful job with things in terms of children in need,” said Joseph Nolan, a board member of Cradles to Crayons and senior vice president of NStar of Boston.
Since being with Cradles to Crayons for the past year, Nolan believes the new space will be able to fully match the need of children throughout the Commonwealth.
Within the next three years, Cradles to Crayons hopes to double the number of children being reached to about 90,000.
“It’s like what I tell our volunteers at orientation, [45,000] would overflow the seats at Fenway Park, but the number of children in need is around 300,000,” said Nick Iovino, a volunteer leader of the Cradles to Crayons volunteer staff.
Beginning in early 2010, Iovino has helped lead groups of volunteers to help sort goods that come into the warehouse to be shipped out to children across the state.
“We want to give them things that will make them feel valued, we always say we want every child in need to feel safe, warm, ready to learn and valued,” Iovino said.
About 20,000 volunteers to date have helped “sort, clean and inspect all of the goods,” coming into the warehouses, Bentson said.
Volunteers for Cradles to Crayons come from local churches, middle and high schools as well as volunteer organizations.
A third of the volunteers that come into the Giving Factory are under 18.
“This sort of volunteer work makes the youth appreciate their home environment,” said Kathleen West, a volunteer from Action for Boston Community Development who recently began working with Cradles to Crayons within the greater Boston area.
Many donors to the organization have volunteered in the Giving Factory alongside their own children.
“It’s pretty extensive, from car seats to blankets, and everything is age appropriate. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to involve my daughter,” West said.
Cradles to Crayons works with 300 partner agencies in Massachusetts to reach low-income and homeless families to fulfill requests.
Each package sent to families is customized to each individual child, based on the packing slip including the child’s name, age and gender.
Orders are sent out within five days or within 24-hours in ‘emergency cases,’ or those cases of domestic abuse where children were forced to leave all belongings behind.
The factory in Quincy was “smaller and more cramped,” said volunteer Nareh Sahakian, 17, of Lynnfield High School.
At the Brighton location, supplies are well categorized depending on the need of the potential child that it will be shipped to.
“I learned a lot,” Sahakian said. “I didn’t realize how big of a scale it is.”
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