Since the age of four, one Collingwood kid has been reminding Christmas shoppers to leave out a little something for Santa’s reindeer on Christmas Eve.
Autumn Hicks is the young philanthropist behind Autumn’s Magical Reindeer Food, which you might have seen for sale at local stores. The little bags of magic mix are for sale by $3 donation and all the proceeds go to the Georgian Triangle Humane Society.
Autumn and her Gramma, Barb Hicks, make all the reindeer food each year – Autumn is now 7 years old.
“My Gramma had the idea, she wanted to raise money for animals after we lost her dog Coco,” said Autumn. Both Autumn and Barb are animal lovers.
“Autumn and I were really missing Coco,” said Barb. “We thought we would help other animals in memory of Coco.”
Autumn said she raises about $600 per year (more than $3,000 total) for the Georgian Triangle Humane Society through the sale of her Magical Reindeer food, made from a mix of cereal and, the magic ingredient, sprinkles.
“Our goal is to get to $700 this year,” said Autumn, adding it feels "good" to help the animals and she wants the money to be used to buy food and toys for the animals at Georgian Triangle Humane Society.
Autumn visits the local animal shelter often, and participated in this year’s GTHS walk-a-thon fundraiser.
She likes visiting the cats at the shelter.
“I like how some are really calm and some are really wild,” said Autumn. “I like how soft the kitties are.”
Autumn’s family has a dog named Tahko and a cat named Zorra, but they call her ZuZu. Gramma has three dogs.
Autumn said she’s received letters from Santa assuring her the reindeer like the food and thanking her for leaving it.
You can find Magical Reindeer Food at Boston Pizza, Minds Alive, Wasaga Beach Foodland, Collingwood Nursing Home, Collingwood Home Hardware, and Elephant Thoughts.
For more from Autumn, visit her Facebook page Autumn’s Fundraisers.
