A little boy from Massachusetts heard about the Australian wildfires and now he's doing his part to help.
6-year-old Owen Colley went to his mother and asked her if any animals were hurt in the bushfires, CNN reports. When he discovered that many animals were hurt, he drew a picture of a kangaroo, a koala and a dingo in the rain. The image was the young boy's wish for the fires to stop, and led to the idea of making clay koalas, his mother said.
"It was really the first time Owen had made a wish for something other than Lego or something other than himself," Caitlin Colley, his mother, told CNN. "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."
Ever since then, the Colley family has been sending Owen's tiny gray clay koalas to anybody that donates $50 or more to Wildlife Rescue South Coast, a New South Wales-based wildlife rescue group. The fundraiser grew so big, the family moved it to GoFundMe, which now has over $100,000 in funds.
"WOW. Your generosity has exceeded our wildest hopes. Owen set out with a second goal of $5,000 and as his story has been shared across the country (and ocean), we have seen the absolute best in people - from those who have liked and shared to those who have donated to the NH woman who shared a picture of her dog (Owen loved that!!)," the family wrote in an update on the fundraising platform. "Support comes in so many forms and we have been overwhelmed by it."
It takes Owen about 3 or 4 minutes to create the clay koalas from scratch. He makes them mainly because he wants people to learn more about Australia, where he lived when he was a toddler. "I want them to know more about Australia and I want them to know more about what animals are in Australia," he said.
Owen isn't the only person raising funds for Australia in a unique way. Kaylen Ward has raised over $700,000 toward the Australian wildfire relief effort by selling nudes.
