PARKER, Colo. — Douglas County School District students started classes on Wednesday. Thanks to the help of one third-grader, some classrooms will have more inclusive art supplies for the new school year.
Zoie Henderson sat at her Parker home this week thinking about a moment that happened last school year.
"We were doing portraits that day and they didn't have the right [marker color for their] skin color and they got upset," she recalled.
Zoie said her class did not have the right shades to color her friend their actual skin tone. She returned home that day and pulled out a set of "Colors of the World," a line of markers made to color a variety of skin tones and shades.
"Everyone has a different color skin," Zoie said. "Some people would just not make a picture because they didn’t have the right skin color."
Zoie brought the markers to school the next day. She told her mom they were a hit.
"Everybody really liked it, so I thought that I should make a fundraiser," Zoie said. "So every class could have like one pack of colored pencils, markers and crayons."
Zoie had the idea of a fundraiser to get these crayons and markers into other classrooms.
"It's amazing at her age she was able to think of something like that," Xavier Henderson, Zoie's dad, said.
"To say 'proud' is like an understatement," Aubrie Henderson, Zoie's mom, added.
So far, the fundraiser started by the Henderson family has raised more than $1,000. They've spent the money on dozens of crayons and marker sets. Zoie spent her last few weeks of summer delivering those sets to schools. So far, they've donated to six different elementary schools.
"It makes me happy when I see someone smile," Zoie said. "I hope they really like them and use them."
Zoie's mom has done the math, and said so far they have donated about 1,400 markers, 1,600 colored pencils and 2,800 crayons.
She said if people continue to contribute to the fundraiser, they'll continue to donate supplies.