Jonah Clonan is a self-proclaimed animal lover with four cats, two dogs, two guinea pigs and three fish tanks at home.

When Jonah, 10, a fourth-grader at Jefferson Hills Intermediate School in the West Jefferson Hills School District learned of the devastating bushfires killing more than one billion animals in Australia, he had to do something.

“I just love helping them,” he said.

Jonah launched a fundraiser at his school, selling fluffy koala-shaped pencil huggers to raise money to send to Australia to help the suffering animals. He also is raffling off plush koalas.

On the first day alone, Jonah’s project brought in $757. His goal is to raise more than $1,000 from the Jan. 17-24 fundraiser to send to Zoos Victoria and Currumbin Wildlife Hospital in Australia.

Jonah wanted to help struggling animals abroad even before he learned of the Australian fires.

Inside English language arts teacher Shauna Rometo’s classroom, Jonah and his classmates read “Wild Horses” by Cris Peterson. The book talked about the creation of the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary and how one person can make a difference.

“The big thing that sticks out to me is they realized humans’ negative effect on animals,” Rometo said.

Jonah wanted to do his part to make it right. He started doing research to find animals that he could help. He settled on leopards.

Then, a few weeks ago, his mom told him about the Australian fires. All of this made Jonah feel sad, he said, and he was determined to help.

He started researching places that needed money to help the suffering animals during the school’s personalized learning time.

He wanted to sell something that his classmates would buy. The cute, fuzzy koala pencil huggers were the perfect fit. Students could latch them on to their writing utensils or Chromebooks and they would be popular with every grade.

Rometo worked with Jonah to figure out the math to ensure the sale would turn a profit for the fundraiser.

Jonah sold the pencil huggers for $2 each. Raffle tickets cost $1 each or 10 for $5.

Rometo’s friends and family donated to help offset the cost of the initial purchase of the pencil huggers, while the teacher herself donated the three plush koalas for the raffle.

What stood out to Rometo was Jonah’s passion and determination to see this project through.

“You didn’t give up on it,” she told him with a smile. “He kept at it every day.”

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