⚫ Student's mother is a judge, so that influenced the service project

⚫ Student creator now has ambassadors helping him out

⚫ The goal is to keep his effort going and help more counties


PENNSAUKEN —What started as a school service project has drawn attention from all over, including formal recognition from Camden County.

Bishop Eustace Preparatory School high school student Andrew Passalacqua created the Crayons for Courts effort. He saw firsthand how “traumatizing” a courtroom can be during the legal proceeding and wanted to help kids having to enter this environment.

Crayons for Courts 3
Credit: Andrew Passalacqua
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"We want to give them something to distract them from all the stress and anxiety that comes with being in a courtroom. So we set out to raise money and buy coloring supplies,” Passalacqua said to New Jersey 101.5.

His mother is a judge, so that influenced his service project.

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“She's still a judge, and she's very proud of me. She loves what I'm doing. She loves that I'm giving back to the community, and she taught me that since I was a little kid to give back and how important that is,” Passalacqua said.

Crayons for Courts chose the Camden County Courthouse as its first beneficiary of coloring donations — those were given out in December. Passalacqua said Crayons for Courts was able to pass along about 6,000 boxes of crayons, 3,000 coloring sheets and 2,000 activity and coloring books.

Crayons for Courts 4
Credit: Andrew Passalacqua
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As you can imagine, Camden is equipped with the supplies to help anxious children for quite some time. Now eyes are on Gloucester County and beyond.

"After we're done with Gloucester, I'm going to look into other courthouses that we can donate to and look at people I can get in contact with. We really just want to keep this going for however long,” he said. School support and four ambassadors are helping as this expands.

Crayons for Courts 2
Credit: Andrew Passalacqua
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For minors like himself, he stressed they alone can make a difference, no matter the contribution.

“I would say even if it's something small, giving back to the community matters and you're helping, even if you don't think so,” Passalacqua said.

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