Olivia’s Help the Gulf Wildlife Project
Maud S. Sherwood fifth grader Olivia Bouler is known as a compassionate person with a love of birds. When she heard about the oil spill on the Gulf Coast she sprang into action. Combining her love for birds, Olivia contacted the National Audubon Society to offer her help, with the idea of drawing pictures of her favorite birds for the first 500 people who donated money to the cause. She set about creating a Facebook page which was discovered by AOL, and from there everything snowballed.
AOL set up an artist’s page and announced “Olivia’s Help the Gulf Wildlife Project,” and donated $25,000 to Audubon on behalf of Olivia. Due to her efforts, Olivia has been featured on The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, Larry King Live, The Today Show, CNN, BBC, and in the pages of Newsday among many others.
“The attention is amazing and overwhelming,” said Olivia. “I’ve always loved birds and wanted to help any way I could. I’m flabbergasted by everything.”
To date, Olivia’s Wildlife Project has raised more than $100,000 and the donations keep coming.
“We’re so proud of her,” said Nadine Bouler, Olivia’s mother. “As a teacher I have always told my students that they can make a difference. Seeing it demonstrated by my own child is amazing and overwhelming.”
To find out how you can help, visit Olivia’s AOL Artist page at http://www.aolartists.com/projects/help-the-gulf/.
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