When Bellen Woodard was in third grade, a classmate asked her a question she had heard many times before: “Would you please pass the skin-colored crayon?”

As usual, Bellen handed the peach crayon to her friend. But this time, something bothered her. Bellen was the only Black girl in her grade. Though the peach crayon matched the skin color of most of her classmates, it didn’t match hers.

“It made me kind of feel not as important,” says Bellen, who’s now in fifth grade. “Like there’s only one skin color.”

She wanted her classmates to realize that many kids need crayons other than peach to draw themselves. Bellen set out to change the way her classmates thought about skin color. 

In the spring of 2019, Bellen’s More Than Peach Project was born. She wants to inspire people to celebrate each other’s differences and make the world more inclusive. 

“I wanted to make sure that everyone has a crayon that represents them and matches their skin,” says Bellen, who calls herself a crayon activist.

The problem was that most boxes of crayons don’t include enough colors to represent everyone. With money she had saved, Bellen ordered crayons in a variety of skin tones. She packaged them with sketch pads and donated them to schools near her home in Leesburg, Virginia.

The news about the More Than Peach Project spread on social media. Soon kids, parents, and teachers across the country were asking for Bellen’s crayons. She decided to start selling her kits online. She uses some of the money from her online sales to fund the kits she donates to kids and schools in need.

So far, Bellen has donated more than 4,000 kits. And she no longer needs to buy the crayons for them. She has her own More Than Peach brand specially made.

Bellen has received hundreds of letters and emails thanking her. In March, state lawmakers in Virginia passed the Bellen Bill to honor her leadership. And the Virginia Museum of History and Culture put a More Than Peach Project pack on display. Bellen plans to continue to change the world—one crayon at a time.

“My goal is to help kids be more understanding of each other,” she says.