Please take donations to select drop-off locations! Due to the constraints of our units, please donate items using bags that have been securely tied shut or in small boxes that have been taped closed. Please do not leave donations outside of the unit.

1 in 2 children in Chicago is at risk of experiencing clothing insecurity.

Let’s help them.

At Cradles to Crayons, our entire organization is driven by a focused and all-important goal: to make life better for children in need. To make this happen, it takes a wide variety of individuals and groups to come together to make a difference in their local communities.

Ways to Give

Find A Drop Off

You can help us get everyday essentials into the hands of children facing clothing insecurity. Shop our Amazon Wish List and learn more about how you can help provide our most-needed items.

Please check out our Fiscal Year 2019 Annual Highlights Report, to see what strides we made last year thanks to your continued support.

Become a Child Champion through our monthly giving program! Your contribution will fuel the heart of our organization and help launch a child to their full potential.

Become a Child Champion Today

Resilience Fund

During times of crisis, injustice, and income insecurity, families rely on Cradles to Crayons to provide resources for their children. Our 2021 Resilience Fund builds on our organization’s ongoing work to provide children living in low-income and homeless situations with the essentials they need to survive.

The Fund aims to heal the trauma—evictions, unemployment, medical bills—exacerbated by the pandemic and helps us acquire, process, and distribute children’s essentials such as new diapers, baby wipes, and hygiene products to our hardest-hit families, so they have one less thing to worry about.

Donate Now

Ready for Learning Presented by Discover: Providing 60,000 Backpacks to Students this Fall

With the support of corporate sponsors and volunteers, our Ready for Learning initiative will provide 60,000 backpacks filled with learning essentials to children—free of charge.

Want to volunteer? Ready for Learning events are off-site with our corporate partner, Discover. Volunteers will be setting up tables, unboxing school supplies, loading backpacks into trucks, and breaking down cardboard boxes. If you would like to volunteer, please email Michele at mkuhn@cradlestocrayons.org. All volunteers must be 18 or older.

Ready for Learning

Take Action

We work with over 7,000 families, individuals, community groups and companies to serve over 30,000 children every year in Chicago. Your time is vital to getting children the everyday essentials they need.

Make a Difference

Our Stories

On a human level, what we do is bring a little sunshine into the life of a family or child in need. Learn firsthand about the difference we make on a day-to-day basis. From our service partners and volunteers and from the families themselves.

The Difference We're Making

Service Partners

Our whole focus is to make our collaborative process as easy and streamlined as possible. This helps us to empower the children you serve at home, at school and at play by providing the everyday essentials that match their individual needs.

Learn More