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Central Coast Girl Launches Ambitious Grass Roots Campaign To Create Multicultural Awareness

It started with a Central Coast girl wondering why she didn’t see more people who looked like her in movies.  But, Madi Wilson decided to do something about it.  The eight-year-old Solvang girl case up with an idea to create multicultural awareness among children, an effort that’s getting national attention.

Stuck at home due to the pandemic, her mother let her watch some movies on TV.  She noticed that most of the main characters were white, and very few were from African-American, Latino, or other groups.

Madi’s idea was a simple one:  What if kids had multicultural crayons, with crayons representing different skin colors so kids could draw themselves?

Vashti Wilson is Madi’s mother.  She says Madi’s came up with the idea of giving away multicultural crayons, and books to schools.  But, she says she couldn’t find crayons which would do the job.

That didn’t stop the little girl, who decided to create her own crayons.  Vashti says her daughter really took off with the project.  She spoke at a Juneteenth celebration to raise money, and then launch a “GoFundMe” effort, which soon topped $50,000 in pledges.

Madi’s mother says she’s amazed with what her eight year old daughter has created.  She says her daughter did it on her own.

Vashti says she hopes the campaign, called “Madi’s Treasure Box,” will help the next generation be more understanding of those from different backgrounds.

Madi Wilson has appeared on national news and entertainment shows to talk about the effort.  She’s hoping the exposure will lead to more contribution which will expand the free crayon and book distribution to schools.

The non-profit is taking pre-orders for the crayons now, with the sale of each box ordered paying for another box which will be given to a school.  Link to Madi's "Go Fund Me" page:  https://bit.ly/34VHpg9

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.