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Help #EndClothingInsecurity!

Cradles to Crayons defines Clothing Insecurity as the lack of access to affordable, appropriate clothing—and we’re on a mission to #EndClothingInsecurity for the 20 million kids across the U.S. who need our support. Join us in the movement so that one day all children will have the clothing and essentials they need for a safe and healthy childhood.
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Direct to a Child, with Love.

Giving Factory Direct easily matches you with a child in our communities so you can donate high-quality, gently used clothing from the comfort of your own home. When you sign up with Giving Factory Direct, you are helping to meet a child’s immediate needs.
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Providing the Essentials Kids Need

Cradles to Crayons volunteers prepare packages of clothing, shoes, books, and more for distribution throughout the year to hundreds of thousands of kids in the communities we serve. We do it in a way that is highly efficient and accountable. That’s why Charity Navigator has recognized us as a Four-Star Charity for 13 years and counting.

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Helping Kids Prepare…Every Day

We provide the essential items children need to feel safe, warm, ready to learn, and valued. 
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Let's Build an #ArmyofEmpathy


After 20 years and 500,000+ volunteers at Cradles to Crayons, our Founder and CEO Lynn Margherio, realized that the key to a better future is giving everyone an easy opportunity to serve. Hear more about Lynn’s journey to building an #ArmyofEmpathy in her TEDxBeaconStreet talk!

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With supporters across the United States, Cradles to Crayons works to fight Children’s Clothing Insecurity directly in Chicagoland, Massachusetts, Greater Philadelphia, NYC, and San Francisco, and focuses on raising awareness about this urgent crisis nationally. Since 2002, we have supplied nearly 6 million packages of basic essentials like clothing, shoes, diapers, and school supplies to children who don’t have access to these critical resources.
 
Find A Local Drop Off
 

You can help us provide everyday essentials to local children in need. Learn more about how you can help.

A statement from Cradles to Crayons: A Lifelong Commitment to DEI

Gear Up for Winter

Gear Up for Winter is Cradles to Crayons’ flagship winter initiative, which provides warm coats and other essentials to families who need them most before harsh weather conditions become an emergency.

Learn more about Gear Up for Winter and see how you can help keep children warm in Massachusetts, Chicagoland, and Greater Philadelphia.

Massachusetts

Chicagoland

Greater Philadelphia

Donate Goods

Check your closets and drawers at home for new and like-new clothing, shoes, books, and toys that have been outgrown or replaced. Donate them to us and you can be sure they’ll be given to local children in need to support their health and development!

Host a Drive

Volunteer

We work with tens of thousands of families, individuals, community groups, and corporate volunteers in our Giving Factories® and at community-based events to provide more than 500,000 packages of essential items to children every year. Join us to help in your community!

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Fund the Cause

Help end Clothing Insecurity! Financial support from individuals, families, and companies sustains our work year round. Just  $33 serves one child head to toe.

Fund the Cause

Ways to Give

Giving Factory Direct

Straight from your home to a child in need—our innovative new platform makes it easy to pack and ship the clothing you have to donate directly to a child with those needs! Sign up to expand our reach to even more kids across the United States.

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We fill a critical yet overlooked need.

More than 20 million children in the United States do not have the clothing and basic essentials they need for healthy childhood development. Families struggling to pay for rent and groceries often cannot afford anything else. Basic items for their children—properly fitting outfits for school, diapers, a backpack, shoes, pajamas, a coat for cold weather—are simply not possible. Cradles to Crayons’ mission and model enable our volunteers and donors to turn compassion into action and provide the essential items that children in struggling families need to thrive at school, to participate more fully in life, to just be a kid.

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We’re Making a Tangible Difference

 

We’re Making a Difference in Children’s Lives.

Cradles to Crayons was founded on the philosophy that unused resources should be redistributed to the places they are needed most. With Quality = Dignity as a cornerstone value, Cradles to Crayons invites you to look in closets, drawers, and shelves at home for new and like-new clothing, shoes, books, and toys that have been outgrown or replaced by a new favorite. By donating them to us, you can help to change the lives of children in need—across the country, and right here at home. Read more about our impact >

In The News

We host special events and activities throughout the year in our Giving Factories and in local communities to enable community groups, families, and businesses to support our mission and help neighbors in need.
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Our Service Partners

Our network of social service partners is a crucial link to the families and children we serve. We are committed to making our collaborative process as easy and streamlined as possible.
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Our Featured Partners