Oxford Bird Rescue funds delivered in surprise visit by Tikokino School students

Scott, Tracey and Oscar the owl, with Teagan and Riley holding their cheques.

A tiny blind owl tugged so hard on the heartstrings of two Tikokino School students that they ended up airborne themselves ... flying to the South Island to visit him and his carers.

Teagan Walton, 12, and brother Riley, 8, had read about Oxford Bird Rescue online.

Teagan loves birds and she found the rescue's advocate was a blind little owl called Oscar.

"Scott and Tracey Bowman look after Oscar. He touched my heart and I really wanted to help. With all of the little owls and hawks that come into their care, I felt they needed support. Scott and Tracey are awesome for doing bird rescue," Teagan said. Riley was on board as well.

"I really like Oscar the little owl and wanted to help Scott and Tracey to get money to help other little owls that come into their care, so they can get well and be released back into the wild," he said.

Teagan began fundraising, organising a raffle and going to businesses asking for support. She allowed three weeks to sell 160 tickets but sold them all in two and a half days.

She approached Tikokino School principal Hamish Natusch to see if they could have a mufti day and sell lunches. Natusch was more than happy to help. Riley raised funds by selling eggs from their family chickens, growing seedlings to sell, doing jobs around the house and collecting coins in a jar.

They raised $802. The pair gave the money to their mum to send and she promised them a trip to visit the facility in October.

But their mum, Cheryl, was keeping a secret.

At 4.30am on March 13 she woke the children and told them to get up and dressed, because they were off to the airport to fly down to take the money to Oxford Bird Rescue in person.

All Teagan could say was "you're joking right?" Riley just said "really?"

Scott and Tracey at Oxford Bird Rescue were very surprised by the donations. They knew the children were flying down but thought it was just for a visit.

Scott said, "Please pass on our humble thanks to everyone involved from such a wonderful community.

"We never thought when we started our bird rescue journey just how many wonderful people we would come into contact with. It just keeps amazing us the kindness that people show.

"This week we got to meet Teagan and Riley who have been following us on Facebook and decided they wanted to support our work.

"Their mum surprised them with a trip to Oxford so they could deliver the donation in person and meet us. We thought that was a very cool idea and invited them to stay the night with us in our crazy bird house.

"We once again find ourselves truly humbled by the kindness of strangers who have now become friends. Teagan and Riley are very special young people and this visit was the highlight of our year," they said.

Teagan wants to thank everyone in the community who supported her raffle, and the school community for their support as well.