ROCHESTER — The Rochester founder of Creative Little Leaders, Kelly Gagliardi, has been looking for young leaders to help teach other children leadership skills. When she found an exemplar in Hingham boy, Owen Colley, she decided to put her volunteers or “kindness army” to work helping him on Feb. 1. 

Like many, Colley was concerned to hear about the Australian wildfires, and particularly concerned to think about the animals that it killed or displaced. 

So his family started a GoFundMe, and Colley pledged to give each donor of $50 a little clay koala that clings to the edge of a pot. The effort went viral, some donors gave up to $1,000, and the family has raised $280,000 as of Feb. 1, with the donations continuing for a week even after they capped the clay gifts. 

That still leaves Colley and his family with an overwhelming 3,400 koalas to make. Gagliardi, who first saw the story on the news one morning, decided to help him hold up his koala bargain. 

When she got into work at AccuTech after seeing the story, Gagliardi realized that her workplace was donating to the cause as well, to help ship the koalas. They were able to put her in touch with the Colleys. 

“This is exactly what Creative Little Leaders is about.  Our missions are in-line: empowering and educating by embracing creativity to develop leadership in kindness,” Gagliardi said.  

She initially considered holding the event at Buttonwood Park Zoo, but decided to hold it at Rochester Memorial School to keep it in the community. 

It also allowed the Junior Friends of the Library to help. Librarian Lisa Fuller met Ava and Kelly Gagliardi at her workplace’s storytimes. Fuller said she wanted to bring the junior friends to the event, “because of the community focus.”

Over a billion animals have been killed in the Austrailian wildfires. Colley’s dad, Simon Colley said that though koalas have become the mascot of Owen’s campaign, it actually benefits a number of animals, including dingoes, wombats, wallabys, kangaroos, bandicoots, flying foxes and sugar gliders.   

To ensure that all of the funds could be donated to charity, Sculpey donated the clay. The Colleys are will looking for a shipping partner.

Owen’s mom, Caitlin commented that the Rochester volunteers were the “biggest group we’ve every had at a koala party.” 

Making koalas is a lengthy process, mostly because of extremely specific standards. Koala heads start as an oval shape, and sculptors must squeeze the ears just right so that the top stays flat and bottom is rounder, make minuscule eyes, and the white lines, called “ear fluffs” that give the ears some texture.  

“The important part is all these kids feel a part of something bigger,” said Simon. With offers for help from as far away as Japan, Poland and South Korea, it’s hard to get much bigger than that. 

Despite the global offers for help, when the Colleys heart from Gagliardi, they were “thrilled to be approached by her,” Simon said.

For more information on the Colleys work, see littleclaykoalas.com. For more about Creative Little Leaders, see creativelittleleaders.com.