January 22, 2020 by Hilary Jenison (photos courtesy of Caitlin Colley via Instagram @littleclaykoalas)
In early January, Owen Colley, a six-year old Hingham resident and Kindergarten student at Foster School, and his parents, Caitlin and Simon Colley, launched a GoFundMe campaign to support Wildlife Rescue South Coast, a wildlife rescue group in New South Wales after the devastating impacts of the Australian bushfires.
Nearly half a billion animals have been affected by the fires in NSW alone and millions of them are potentially dead, according to ecologists at the University of Sydney.
After learning that animals had been hurt in the fires, Owen was upset and determined to help because of his huge heart and strong connection to animals and Australia (his father is an Australian citizen and his family lived there for a period of time when he was a toddler). So, he and his mom, hatched a plan. They would make small Koalas out of clay and give them to people in exchange for donations. Owen’s huge heart and his love of making creations with his hands inspired the idea and they launched a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of raising $5,000 and making 200 of Owen’s Clay Koalas.
Their campaign has gone viral globally with media including CNN International, People Magazine, and even William Shatner and even the U.S. Consulate in Sydney weighing in and reached more than 4,400 donors raising over $265,000.
According to Caitlin Colley (from their GoFundMe page), “We never considered such a generous response to Owen’s initiative. We set out to make 200 clay koalas and raise $5,000 and are now looking at making thousands of koalas … We are blown away.”
They are thrilled with the response and working hard and determined to figure out how to meet demand for Owen’s adorable clay koalas. As of January 19th they are no longer able to provide koala’s as a “thank you” for donations over $50 but they are still welcoming donations to support the cause.
And, they are rallying friends and family to help. Last weekend, they hosted their first-ever Koala making party. Colley confirmed it takes about 5 minutes to make each Koala and the make them in an assembly line first head, then ears, then eyes, nose, ear fluff and finally legs. They then need to bake in the oven for about 17 minutes.
Once they work out the kinks of group production, they are hoping to bring it to the Hingham Public Schools starting with Owen’s Kindergarten class at Foster School.
Colley confirms, “It has been a wild week and we are so proud of our little dude. This initiative has the potential for huge involvement from our community. From the get-go our message has been that together we can accomplish great things.”
Sculpey, the company that produces the clay that Owen uses, has reached out to the Colley’s and has sent them a large shipment of clay to help with the production and they are working with Accutech who is generously donating all of their packaging materials.
Stay tuned for more details on how you can use your heart and your hands to support Owen Colley’s mission!