Two Vancouver university students are turning unused art supplies and Lego bricks into creativity kits for seniors and kids across the region.
Elaine Han and Simon Wang, both 19-year-old UBC students, started the campaign earlier this year under MimeX, a non-profit Han created. Both students also volunteer at senior facilities and saw the opportunity to do more good in the community.
Inspired by volunteering with seniors
"I saw how the seniors would generally be sitting there doing nothing a lot, and when there was an activity they'd be more focused, more active," Wang tells V.I.A. "I thought this might be good and help make them more active."
He adds that art supplies are used up quickly, but Lego, which he played with as a kid, can be used repeatedly.
Han notes that cognitive decline is an issue many seniors face, and mental exercises and creative endeavours help push back.
"We know that for seniors it's a very important thing for them to play puzzles," she says."That's why we thought donating Legos to seniors would be a good idea, too; they're always happy and energetic when they get to create things."
The collection and re-purposing of Lego Mimex is being done under the banner of Pass the Brick, an international movement to redistribute unused Lego, though in Vancouver Han and Wang are the only two involved.
Collecting and sharing Lego and art supplies
The pair have set up collection boxes at some community centres across the region and collect what is donated (using transit), clean and prepare items, and divide the items into kits.
For the Lego, the pair try to recreate specific models based on the instructions that are often donated with the pieces. For the leftovers, they create little packets with a variety of pieces.
"We start making our own sets because we have all the piles," Han explains. "We're able to just take a big piece and put a house together or our own creations."
As for art supplies, packets often include a set of pencil crayons (all different colours) and other items, as they're available. Han and Wang try to make sure items are redistributed evenly. Other items they've collected include resin, canvases, and spray paint.
At the beginning of the summer, they were focused on collecting the donations; recently they turned to cleaning and preparing the kits. At the end of August, before the school year resumed, they donated the items to places around Metro Vancouver, like the Seton Villa Retirement Centre or Good Samaritan Victoria Heights.
They're also donating to children's centres and shelters like Covenant House.
So far they've made and donated around 100 packets.
Plans for going forward
While they'll have to slow things down over the school year, Han and Wang intend to keep collecting items.
"We're planning on continuing this because we've got so many donations; we realized a lot of people are willing to take part," explains Wang.
Han notes people have been reaching out over Instagram once they learned what Mimex was doing.
Anyone who wants to donate or help out can reach out to Mimex via email or on Instagram.
