RTM Students Help Cradles to Crayons Program on Day of Service

students are participating in the 17th Annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service on Monday by collecting items for disadvantaged children in the five-county area for the Cradles to Crayons program, according to a press release.

"This is the first such district-wide event to bring together all the high school, middle school, and four elementary schools in a volunteer drive of this magnitude," explained Ralph Harrison, assistant principal at and event organizer.

Each school had a schedule for the collection of clothing and other items needed by Cradles to Crayons for several days leading up to and including MLK Day.

Then on Monday, students will sort and bag the items in accordance with Cradles to Crayons guidelines.

Cradles to Crayons is a local organization that collects and delivers necessary supplies to children, free of charge, in low-income or homeless situations.

Rose Tree Media School District Maintenance Department personnel will pick up the sorted items from each school on Tuesday and deliver them to the Cradles to Crayons' warehouse in West Conshohocken.

"It was a true team effort from start to finish," Harrison said in a press release. "It's pretty easy to mobilize the students and community for such a great cause and on such a great day. Cradles to Crayons represents the essence of Dr. King's message that has continued to live on years after his untimely death."

Cradles to Crayons’ Executive Director Michal Smith said in the press release that the Rose Tree Media School District children, along with their parents and school staff, are performing important work.

"We cannot ignore that Philadelphia is the poorest of the nation’s 10 largest cities, with one in three of the city’s children living in poverty, but it must be noted that one in 12 children living in the Philadelphia suburbs are living below the federal poverty level," Smith said. "In fact, poverty rates in the suburbs and rural communities have increased faster than in urban areas."

For more informmation on Cradles to Crayons visit www.cradlestocrayons.org.