Edwin Binney’s Legacy at Crayola

Edwin Binney was an American entrepreneur and inventor who created the first dustless white chalk, and was the co-founder of Binney and Smith: the company now known as Crayola. He was born on November 24^th, 1866 in Shrub Oak, New York, and passed away on December 17^th, 1934. Edwin Binney left behind an extraordinary legacy for environmentally friendly business initiatives.

The History of Crayola

Noticing a need for safe and affordable wax crayons, Binney & Smith made the first box of 8 Crayola crayons in 1903. “The trade name Crayola was coined by Mrs. Edwin Binney, a school teacher, who joined the French word ‘craie’, meaning stick of chalk and ‘ola’ from the word ‘oleaginous’, meaning oily.” (Crayola.com)

Edwin Binney was known for his love of the outdoors, which was reflected in the names of some early crayon colours. He was also

known for his interest in helping those in need. Crayola works hard to continue Edwin Binney’s legacy by minimizing their environmental footprint and striving to achieve environmental goals, and enriching the neighborhoods, schools and lives of families in the communities in which they operate.

Community Gardens

In 2011 in Easton, Pennsylvania, Crayola built a community garden called Edwin’s Garden, which has over 18 different 100 square foot garden beds. The garden is tended by Crayola employees and each year produces about 1 ton of produce for those in need in the Lehigh Valley region.

In 2019, a team of local businesses and non-profit agencies in Lindsay Ontario are working together to create another community garden called Edwin Binney’s Community Garden. Read all about it here.

Solar Panels

In 2011, the Crayola solar farm was completed in Easton and has 30,000 solar panels which produce 3mg WATS of electricity or the equivalent of producing 2 billion crayons with the power of the sun: that’s enough crayons to go around the world 4 times. These solar panels help reduce Crayola’s greenhouse gases by 3,800 tons per year which is equivalent to removing 650 cars from the road each year. (youtube.com)

Crayola sets an excellent example for other companies when it comes to giving back to communities. Crayola continually goes out of their way to give back, and the communities in which they operate are grateful.

By: Co-op student Leah Cooper

Sources

“Can you tell me the birth dates of the founders Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith?” Crayola.ca. 22 Feb. 2019 <http://www.crayola.ca/faq/your-history/can-you-tell-me-the-birth-dates-of-the-founders-edwin-binney-and-c-harold-smith/>.

Olanoff, Lynn. “Crayola garden harvest benefits Easton Area Community Center.” Lehighvalleylive.com. 20 July 2012. Lehighvalleylive.com. 22 Feb. 2019 <https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2012/07/crayola_garden_harvest_benefit.html>

“Who invented the crayon?” Crayola.com. 22 Feb. 2019 <https://www.crayola.com/faq/your-history/who-invented-the-crayon/>.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Unyl005fQ

By cklunitedway|2019-03-26T15:36:29-04:00March 4th, 2019|News|Comments Off

Crayola Canada—United Way CKL Community Garden Ground Breaking

United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes is embarking on a very exciting new Community Garden project in partnership with Crayola Canada, Fleming College Frost Campus, and Bob Mark New Holland. We have entered into a land use agreement to turn the 30,000 sq. ft. of unused land at Crayola Canada into our largest ever Community Garden! This garden will enhance the availability of fresh produce for programs such as the Good Food Box, collective kitchens, Meals on Wheels, cooking classes, food banks, and food cupboards. Fleming College will provide expertise, while also offering students unique learning opportunities through school projects and volunteering. Bob Mark New Holland will provide equipment and expertise as they volunteered to do our first ground breaking in October of 2018.

The community garden will be a closed space, fenced in and locked, with access limited to staff and volunteers from United Way and Fleming College, as well as agencies involved in the programming.
Community gardens yield more than food, they also provide many teaching opportunities and draw people together to help strengthen our neighbourhoods.

See below for some pictures of our first ground breaking, on Monday October 15th, 2018.

The First Ground Breaking – Group Shot

By cklunitedway|2019-01-20T12:01:51-05:00October 15th, 2018|CKL - United Way, Community Gardens, Crayola Sale, News|Comments Off

The Crayola Sale is almost here!

As Saturday, October 13th moves closer, plans for the 30th Annual Crayola Sale are well under way. This is an exciting event as last year, the team at Crayola achieved their goal of donating more than $1,000,000 to the United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes from the past 29 years of the sale.

Crayola Canada employees volunteer their time to help run the Sale and are also heavily reliant on help from the United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes and other dedicated volunteers. These employees and volunteers donate their time to help set up, run, and clean up after the event.

Crayola’s team is very enthusiastic about participating in this year’s sale. One Crayola Canada staff member expressed her pride: “United Way offers support to such a wide variety of people in a wide variety of ways especially the most vulnerable within our community. It’s good to know I contribute a tiny bit towards that.”

The excitement is in the air every year at the sale, another Crayola employee said

“I love to walk the line before people enter the building. They are always so excited. It’s great to hear what they are hoping to find and knowing what’s inside you can give them a bit of a head start as to where to look. It’s the energy of the line that truly gets me motivated for the event.”

Crayola Canada believes that every person in the community deserves an opportunity for a quality and colourful life:

“We are very fortunate that the annual Crayola Sale can assist children, youth, and adults in the City of Kawartha Lakes. The sale started simply as a yard sale with a few Crayola products added in. It was the beginning of a long-term relationship and, thanks to the efforts of countless volunteers from Crayola, the UWCKL, and the community, it has grown to its current form.”

The impact that the sale creates is both local and global. Several attendees return each year to purchase Crayola products for mission trips, some people going to Mexico and Cuba or even Zimbabwe! Other attendees purchase goods for Holiday presents, or as supplies for classrooms.

United Way is extremely grateful for their partnership with the Crayola Canada team and have recently launched an exciting development in this partnership. In 2019, Crayola Canada, Fleming College and United Way CKL will partner to develop 30,000 sq. ft. of unused land on the lot adjacent to the Crayola building into their largest Community Garden. Some of the funds raised at the 30th Annual Crayola Sale will go towards this Community Garden project, which will have the capacity to provide fresh produce to hundreds of people in the City of Kawartha Lakes.

The sale will take place on Saturday, October 13th from 8am-12pm at the Lindsay Exhibition Fairgrounds and is open to the public. All purchases at the sale must be made in cash.

By cklunitedway|2019-01-20T12:10:38-05:00October 3rd, 2018|community, Crayola Sale, News|Comments Off

United Way CKL Kicks Off its 2018/2019 Campaign

The United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes kicked off its campaign at Smitty’s Restaurant today by announcing that Police Chief Mark Mitchell of the Kawartha Lakes Police Services will be the 2018-2019 Campaign Chairperson. Traditional support through donors, workplaces and volunteers continues to be critical to the United Way’s campaign. Sheila O’Connell, Supply Chain Manager at Crayola Canada and Brett Goodwin, Dean and Principal of Fleming College’s Frost Campus helped to reveal a partnership that will increase support for UWCKL’s food security work. 30,000 square feet of vacant land at Crayola Canada will be developed with the help of Fleming staff and students. This social innovation garden project will enhance the availability of fresh produce for programs such as the Good Food Box, collective kitchens, meals on wheels, cooking classes, food banks, food cupboards and the Kawartha Lakes Food Source.

Chief Mitchell noted that donors, volunteers and partnerships are key to developing consistent funding for vital programs, “The City of Kawartha Lakes is a wonderfully vibrant community, but there are those within this community who need our help. Whether it is in times of emergency or those dealing with chronic issues, the United Way is there with a variety of services to meet those needs. Those services are delivered by agencies and United Way, but it is our donors, however, who make it all happen. It’s how we show that we care.”
“We are extremely grateful to Chief Mitchell for his leadership. We promised the Chief this will be a great learning journey on how we can change and enhance lives across our rural communities. Today’s launch showcases the breadth of our past and present work. We have invested more than $65,000 in bursaries to high school students since 2002 and having Morgan Watson, a past bursary recipient, share her journey into education and a job is wonderful,” said Penny Barton Dyke, Executive Director of UWCKL.

Going forward, Shantal Ingram, Community Investment Coordinator for UWCKL added,

“This is a year to inspire one another to give, mentor people and strengthen our support. Every year, hundreds of volunteers organize their campaigns with colleagues to raise funds through payroll deduction, lunches, chili cook offs, school assemblies, sports events, and even job exchanges with management and staff. Please know that your efforts and commitment inspire and bring hope to our community partners and agencies as we grow investment into quality programs and projects. We will be featuring these workplaces and teams to say thank you throughout the year.”

Duncan Gallacher, Board President of UWCKL, spoke about the growth of partnerships and the development of programs that address changing needs. “Since 2005, we have increased our social investment to not only include agencies and their programs, but we have also raised specific funds for community development projects. United Way has invested over $7 million in agency programs since 1986 and $1 million has been invested in community projects that help with food security, job and educational skills building, housing and youth. Our critical path forward is to continue to build strong partnerships with our local businesses. Crayola, Fleming College, and Hills Florist, along with several agencies and investors, shared the dream of expanding our community gardens and creating practical educational experiences for our youth. Our announcement on the land use agreement with Crayola is truly exciting! We have also created, with Community Living Trent Highlands, new garden plots in Haliburton through a Day of Caring. Women United also provided funds for a greenhouse at their Haliburton location. We worked with about 10 agencies this summer to create a Brown Bag Lunch program and comprehensive job readiness programs to King Albert Public School as a pilot hub delivery model. This is how, as a community, we should come together in planning and delivering support,” said Mr. Gallacher.