6-Year-Old Raises Over $100,000 Making Tiny Clay Koalas for Australia Fire Relief

(TMU) — It can be hard to handle the constantly slew of news coming out of Australia detailing the damage done by the devastating bushfires that have ravaged the island nation since September. While many people feel helpless and inclined to look away, at least one young boy in the United States decided to do something about it.

One by one, 6-year-old Owen Colley crafts small clay koalas by hand. It was only two weeks ago when the young Hingham, Massachusetts boy learned of the fires. He immediately wanted to know if any animals had been hurt. Owen’s mom, Caitlin Colley, told him the truth.

Little Owen then grabbed some supplies and drew a picture of a koala, a kangaroo, and a dingo sitting in the rain—a representation of his wish for Australia.

Owen’s mom explained to CNN on Sunday:

It was really the first time Owen had made a wish for something other than Lego or something other than himself. 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.”

Owen then took his wish a little further by making tiny gray koalas out of clay for each person who donates $50 or more to Wildlife Rescue South Coast, a wildlife rescue group in New South Wales (NSW)—one of the areas hit hardest by the fires.

As of Tuesday Owen had made nearly 60 of the small koalas and had helped raise more than $20,000 in just a week after having set an initial goal of only $1,000.

His efforts began through an Instagram post and donations collected via Venmo and soon expanded to a GoFundMe campaign that has now raised more than $105,000, far exceeding his goal of $5,000 set on the fundraising platform. But according to the campaign’s text Owen is hoping to raise “$3 million” via Owen’s Australian Creature Rescue.

Owen is now “committed to making 1,000 clay koalas“—a whopping ten times his initial goal. He also wants to make sure people “know more about Australia and I want them to know more about what animals are in Australia,” Owen told CNN.

As it turns out, Owen has a special connection to the island continent that likely helped spur his drive to give in this spectacular way. Simon, Owen’s father, grew up just outside of Sydney and Owen himself lived there for a few months as a toddler. His mother explained that Owen is “very proud of the fact that he lived there. I don’t think he remembers any of it but he’s proud of it.”

The 6-year-old from Massachusetts hopes to go back to Australia one day. Perhaps when he does he can visit Wildlife Rescue South Coast and learn firsthand what his giving spirit was able to accomplish during this devastating time.

The fires that began in September have burned 25.5 million acres (10.3 million hectares) of land and Ecologists at the University of Sydney estimate that over 1 billion animals have been killed in the bushfires.

You need to be a member of Ashtar Command - Spiritual Community to add comments!

Join Ashtar Command - Spiritual Community

Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • 6 year old ...what a shame on those adults who are not doing anything to help . .what a shame 

This reply was deleted.

Topics by Tags

Monthly Archives

Latest Activity

John Jancar posted a status
Hi
4 minutes ago
AlternateEarth left a comment on Comment Wall
"Learn Why MSM Is Suddenly Admitting That Smart Light Bulbs & Almost Every Other Appliance In Your Home / Car / Phone App Is Literally Watching, Listening, & Recording Everything You Do!…"
9 minutes ago
AlternateEarth posted a blog post
Japanese manga prophet warns of cataclysmic event on July 5 — Is a new continent coming?07/01/2025 // Finn Heartley // 570 Views Tags: big government, chaos, Collapse, disaster, Ecology, environment, geology, Japan, Nankai Trough, national…
3 hours ago
AlternateEarth commented on Drekx Omega's blog post The Fate of the Nazi Breakaway Civilisation, After 1945
"Drexk-obviously your craft will ascend vertically-but how are the thrusters manipulated to go in any direction both in an atmosphere and in the vacuum of space, and how do the thrusters, assuming gravitrons are creating propulsion, move the craft in…"
4 hours ago
Justin89636 replied to Justin89636's discussion Anything UFO Or ET Related
"Sighting in La Quinta, California, September 10th 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccnpHjNQ90E"
4 hours ago
Justin89636 left a comment on Comment Wall
"Sighting in La Quinta, California, September 10th 2024. https://youtu.be/ccnpHjNQ90E?si=DIePMmv_9v6_uV0b"
4 hours ago
Justin89636 replied to Justin89636's discussion Anything Health Related
"RFK. Jr. now making moves to go after dangerous foods. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiVFIRyXhIw"
5 hours ago
Justin89636 left a comment on Comment Wall
"RFK. Jr. now making moves to go after dangerous foods. https://youtu.be/oiVFIRyXhIw?si=3fSh0w9UNzdBifFl"
5 hours ago
More…