Seventh-Grade Activist Leads Heifer International Earth Day Campaign

Austin Fialkow made his first successful advocacy effort on behalf of caged lobsters at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin. The lobsters were kept without food in a giant cage, he recalled, and guests could reach in with a claw—the same kind that is used in arcade machines—to pull out a lobster. Austin, who is now 12, thought it was so cruel that he went to the manager to ask that it be removed. When that didn’t work, he contacted People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and started an online petition.

“They ended up taking it out,” says his mom, Susan Fialkow. “The owner said, ‘Sometimes it takes a kid to show you.’”

The l seventh-grader and Northbrook resident is now on to his next advocacy effort, this one involving animals and people. As his bar mitzvah service project, Austin, who goes to is collecting money for Heifer International. The nonprofit gives livestock, trees and seeds as well as training to impoverished families around the world in order to empower them with a sustainable source of income. 

“He’s a little activist,” says Susan.

Naturally, Austin is doing a little more than simply raising money from friends and family. He’ll be hosting a booth at Northbrook’s Saturday—something he had to get approved by the village in December—as well as collecting money outside of Jewel-Osco and .

For the booth, Austin went door to door at several Northbrook shopping centers, asking for sponsorships. The seventh grade student council vice president (who ran on a platform of extending the weekend to five days) says he wasn’t nervous, however.

“I’ve done things like that before,” he said. “They all gave me a chance to explain.”

Already, Austin has raised approximately $750 in gift cards and cash donations from local businesses, he said. His 15 sponsors are listed on the back of a T-shirt he designed that will be for sale at his Earth Day booth. On the front, the shirt reads, “I changed the world. I saved lives. I made a difference. I fought poverty. I donated to Heifer.” 

Austin said he found out about Heifer International through his mother, a social worker. Susan was offered a very generous spa gift by a client but didn’t feel comfortable taking it, she said. When the client donated to Heifer International instead, Susan was hooked.

“I just love the cause,” she said, noting that families who receive livestock are trained in sustainable agriculture techniques and must promise to give the offspring of their livestock to a neighbor. 

“I decided it was a really cool organization,” Austin said. He liked the fact that it changed the lives of families around the world, and it helped that he’s a big fan of animals—he’s had an African clawed frog since kindergarten and his family also owns a Goldendoodle dog.

The more he’s learned, the more he’s been convinced that Heifer is a worthwhile organization, Austin said. In preparation for his Earth Day booth, he watched a DVD the nonprofit sent him and read all about the group’s services and their effect on individuals. 

“A lot of people talk about how much they hate school,” he said, admitting that, like everyone else, he’d felt that way sometimes, too. But reading about how some families couldn’t send their children to school until they were able to raise the money by selling milk or eggs from their livestock changed his mind, he said. 

“It just made me a lot more thankful that I get to go to school,” he said.

Austin will be selling T-shirts and collecting donations from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday on the . He’ll be joined by more than 60 other exhibitors all promoting environment-friendly concepts and ideas as part of Northbrook’s 41st Earth & Arbor Day Celebration.