Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2010

Fuquay-Varina girl's 700 toothbrushes bring smiles

Toothbrushes sent for Gulf cleanup

It takes a lifetime for some people to find a way to help the world. Tessa Buscher has accomplished it at age 8.

The third-grader at Ballentine Elementary in Fuquay-Varina has donated her hair for cancer patient wigs, gathered teddy bears for orphaned earthquake victims in Haiti, raised money for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with a lemonade stand and done neighborhood cleanups through the "Save the Earth" club she helped start.

Now, she has collected more than 700 toothbrushes in one month to clean marine animals affected by the BP oil disaster along the Gulf Coast.

After seeing oil-drenched animals on TV and in the newspaper, Tessa wanted to help. "I went on the Audubon Nature Institute website and found stuff that they needed," she said. "One of them was toothbrushes. ... I knew that everybody that I knew probably had a lot of toothbrushes."

The Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans has been charged, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with caring for turtles and marine mammals in Gulf waters.

Tessa gets busy

Tessa posted a flier around her neighborhood soliciting toothbrushes that could be used to clean animals. She also set up a collection box at her swimming pool and asked friends and family for help.

"She basically used her own little personal network to get the message out," said Tessa's mother, Melissa. "She was even smart enough to send one to her dentist."

After collecting more than twice her goal (she originally hoped to gather just 300) Tessa sent the toothbrushes, a photograph and a letter to the institute this summer. Audubon officials were so impressed that they invited Tessa and her father, Greg, to Louisiana get a firsthand look at how her donation will help.

"It's just so inspiring that such a young child thinks to do things like that," said Gina Trapani, development and operations manager for the institute.

During her visit, Tessa got a tour of the institute's aquarium, went to the zoo and got a lesson in cleaning a toy turtle. One of her favorite parts was seeing a pair of 78- and 99-year-old rescued turtles who had become buddies.

Since the spill, the Audubon institute has cleaned and cared for 150 sea turtles. Typically, it cares for seven to 10 turtles a year.

"We're getting that many a day," Trapani said. After cleaning the turtles, the organization continues to feed and care for them. "The job is not done," she said. "We're checking them every day. It's a full-time job, all the time."

Tessa's job will be school for the next several years, but she says when she grows up, she "wants to be somebody who helps the world."

That, or a hairstylist. And who says great hair can't change the world?