11-Year Old Girl Raises $80K and Counting for Gulf Birds

Girl Raises Thousands of Dollars for Gulf Birds
Updated 2:01 PM PDT, Thu, Jun 10, 2010


Olivia Bouler doesn’t have time for anything else these days except to draw and paint. But that’s OK for the artistic fifth-grader, because everything she does is for the birds.

The Islip, N.Y., girl, who turns 11 on Friday, has raised an estimated $80,000 by sending her sketches and paintings of birds to people who donate to organizations helping with relief efforts in the Gulf of Mexico spill disaster.

“I do some in the mornings and some in the afternoons, and weekends are really the time for me get cracking at them,” Olivia told msnbc.com on Thursday in a telephone interview as she and her parents were headed to the Gulf for a visit.

Olivia came up with the idea to help birds in the Gulf four days after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the nation’s worst oil spill. Olivia's father's family grew up in Alabama, and she has spent vacations in the Gulf.

“Olivia heard about the oil spill and she immediately thought of the birds. She’s a bird lover. She knew they were nesting and she knew the spill would bring an incredible change to their habitat,” said her mother, Nadine Bouler.

So Olivia wrote to the National Audubon Society, saying she would like to help by doing drawings and giving the wildlife conservation group any money she raised. She signed it, a bit precociously, “Olivia Bouler, 11 years old and willing to help.”

more...

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/breaking/Girl_raises_thousands_of_dollars_for_Gulf_birds-96085869.html

Seriously, why isn't your thread on the greatest page yet? Thanks for posting. :hi:

long time, no see, literally! Hope you and your family are well! :hi: And this is a nice story; like the media, maybe not enough sensationalism? :D

Ona is 14 going on 27, but what you gonna do? Take care.

She wanted so much to help when the Haiti thing happened...(and the school shot down the idea)


Now it is summer and her and her Brownie troop will be looking for something useful to do...and we live in a pristine water environment, so we can appreciate the issue. She loves Turtles and dolphins... I'll have to start researching the rescue efforts for the animals...

thanks for the heads up! we can all pitch in ...whatever way we can contribute our hearts and intentions, is vital....