Nine-year old Savannah Maag, a lover of animals and art, decided to combine her passion and talent to raise money for a Palomino pony that needs eye surgery.
Maag spent the sweltering weekend selling her artwork and lemonade outside her Kings Park home last Sunday and with the help of her brothers and some friends they raised over $100 for Buttercup, a pony who suffered animal cruelty at the hands of its owner.
“This makes me feel good, it’s very nice to do,” said Maag.
Buttercup was one of dozens of animals that were removed from the Calverton farm.
“I love helping animals and we were on our way back from vacation and I heard about the pony on the radio so we had to do something,” said Maag. “He’s been abused at this farm where he lived, he was a rescue,” she added.
She and her two brothers Austin, 12 and Wyatt, 14 share of a love and animals and between them they have three dogs, a rabbit named Velvet, a Ferret names Roscoe, a Chinchilla, a love bird named Tallulah Bell and a cat named Maggie Mae.
Maag and her entourage are no strangers to raising money for animals; they ran their curbside stand last year to raise reward money in hopes of getting beloved Raleigh Farm pet, Teddy the Goat returned. They are optimistic that enough money will be raised for Buttercup’s eye surgery.
“My dad is going to drop the money we raised at the Suffolk County ASPCA,” said Maag.
As of 2:30 p.m., only three paintings remained – an under seascape, a large colorful butterfly and a picture of a giant eye, each work selling for five dollars. When asked about her inspiration for her artwork, Maag said she paints whatever comes to mind.
“One day my brother was staring at me all day and that’s how I did the eye,” she said, causing here brothers to crack up and sing, “Somebody’s Watching You”
For more information about fundraisers for Buttercup’s surgery check out the Suffolk County SPCA website, or call them at 631.382.7722
