With major disasters like the bushfire crisis in Australia, our first impulse is to provide help. Unfortunately, some of us don’t have the resources to donate or spare time to provide our physical labor. But even if we don’t have much to offer, many of us try to give as much as we can, even if it’s very little.
A six-year-old from Massachusetts named Owen Colley, too, didn’t have much to give, and he sure didn’t want to settle on giving the pennies in his piggy bank to help the animals at risk of danger; he wanted to give back big time. After Owen presented a drawing of wildlife underneath rainclouds, his wish for the Australian animals in danger, Mother Caitlin realized how much helping Australia meant to him. That said, she wanted to help him help the country as much as possible.
That’s when Owen and his mother came up with a swell idea: Owen could collect donations for the Wildlife Rescue South Coast, and if someone donated $50 or more, he could send a handmade, pocket-sized, clay koala figurine to the donor. The empathetic six-year-old was thrilled at the idea.
“We asked him if he wanted to help and … together we came up with this. We could make some clay koalas and give them in response to donations from friends and family,” Caitlin said to CNN in mid-January.
Initially, the goal was to raise as much money as possible. Even a few dollars here and there would be much appreciated. So, the mother wrote a post on Instagram regarding the donation opportunity, not thinking they’d receive many donations. However, by January 14, her son had created about 55 koalas.
What went from $1,000 being donated via Venmo eventually led the mother to start a GoFundMe fundraiser with the goal to earn $5,000. Within a week’s time, $20,000 was donated! Then $270,000 and counting later, Caitlin had to update the campaign after it blew up tremendously:
“As this campaign continues to soar beyond what we ever thought possible, we unfortunately need to limit the number of clay koalas we commit to making and sending. As such, we will not be able to say ‘thank you’ with a koala for donations received after 11:59 pm PST, Sunday, January 19th. With this said, all donations are still greatly appreciated!”
With several donors daily, Caitlin decided that it would not only be too much for her six-year-old to make dozens of clay koalas every week, but the resources they needed to make the koalas were scarce. Within a 20-mile radius, the Colleys had bought out all the silver Sculpey available in their local stores!
Although the koala-making had to be put to a halt, the family is still collecting donations on GoFundMe. If you’re interested, click here to donate.
Watch the video below to discover more about how Owen is helping save animals’ lives in Australia during these difficult times. What an awesome little boy!
