COCHRANE, Alta – Jacob Simister, a local Grade 4 student, came home from school one day last week with the want to make a difference for the planet.
"I was learning about the ocean and how garbage can hurt all the sea animals, and that crayons take 40 years to be gone into the Earth," said Jacob.
After he told his mom, Natalie, that he felt he needed to do something about it, they got to brainstorming.
"First we came up with the idea of getting our hands on some used crayon donations so that we could maybe melt them into candles," said Natalie. "But the easiest option to get something going right away was to melt them into some new crayons — so we jumped on that right away and we got to work."
Thus, Cubby's Crayons was born.
Taking the remnants of used crayons, Jacob, with some help from his family, melts them into multi-colour animals shapes with molds.
"I chose animal ones because [crayon waste] is bad for the animals," the eight-year-old explained.
Jacob, a.k.a. Cubby, is selling his crayon creations, which come in a bag of 10, for $2.
Half the proceeds from each bag will be donated to Garcia Rescue and the Cochrane and Area Humane Society, with each organization receiving 50 cents per sale.
The other half of the proceeds are used for Jacob's materials, like paper bags and stickers, which display a custom Cubby's Creation logo that he designed using a phone app.
By reaching out to organizations in town, such as schools, their hope is that they can have a continual source of used crayons that would otherwise be disposed of or deemed unusable.
They have already heard back from Holy Spirit Catholic School who have agreed to set up a donation bin, and a few other unexpected places.
"The manager of Montana's messaged me and said she's been looking for a way to re-purpose the crayons they have at the restaurant," said Natalie.
Montana's is unable to give the crayons to another family after they've been used for a colouring place mat. They cannot be re-used, so go in the garbage instead.
"They're going to set up a donation bin there and once it's full, we'll go and collect," Natalie said. "The response has been fantastic."
Cubby's Creations has also set up a fundraiser to allow for donations from those who don't live nearby enough to donate crayons, but still want to support their endeavour.
Half of the funds raised will go toward Garcia Rescue and Cochrane Humane, while the other half will be used for buying supplies.
"I'm just so extremely proud of him. When he came home from school and told me this is what he wanted to do... to be eight years old and have these ideas, it just blows my mind everyday."
Cubby's Crayons can be purchased by placing an order through their Facebook page.
