NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — A program that provides free crayons and coloring books for children at family court in Camden County is expanding.
Bishop Eustace High School junior Andrew Passalacqua started the nonprofit Crayons for Courts, which hands out crayons and coloring books as a distraction for children who are there while their parents go through family court hearings.
He has been hard at work to raise money for the organization, and now he’s thrilled the program is expanding to the Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland county courts.
“I’m super grateful to even be in this position in the first place,” said Passalaqua, whose mom is a judge. “And it wouldn’t be possible without everyone from my school Bishop Eustace, my parents, and everyone on my team. And so it’s just a great feeling.”
Passalacqua says he’s raised more than $8,000 so far for the program, and they’re not done yet.
“So I recruited a few ambassadors from my school and some people that I knew from around the area, and they’ve helped me raise some money so it’s not just my friends and family that are getting texts.”
What’s next? Passalacqua isn’t quite sure, but he says they will keep raising money and hopefully find another courthouse to make another big supply drop-off.