Many of us have played Free Rice -- the online word game that results in a charity's sending rice to Africa. But, how many of us has the site inspired to actually make a difference in our own way? For 12-year-old Mimi Ausland, a fifth grader in Bend, Oregon, it is exactly what happened. While playing the game with her parents, Kelly Ausland and Brooke Smith, Mimi wondered why she shouldn't create something similar to feed homeless animals. You may have seen Mimi on NBC's "Today Show" and "Nightly News" and in other media recently. Her story inspired me enough to declare her our "Hero of the Week." I spoke with Mimi earlier this week. "I love animals and wanted to do something like Free Rice to feed animals at our local shelter," Mimi told me. "So, I created Freekibble. Dad designed the site and Mom created the logos and graphics." Mimi started the site this past February. She found sponsors to help provide the actual kibbles. And, she and her father perused dog fact books to create Bow Wow Trivia. When players click an answer, 20 kibbles are provided to feed dogs at her local animal shelter. "The funnest part of Freekibble is seeing how the amount of food we send keeps increasing," Mimi effused. "The first time we sent food to the shelter, their shelves were almost empty. We filled them up." The publicity around Mimi's cause is also increasing. Mimi's father, Kelly shared the impact - "For the month of June, Mimi delivered 600 pounds of kibble, which feeds approximately 40 dogs per day. After the NBC stories, the site is generating approximately 1,000 pounds every day for dogs and cats! This will result in about 25,000 pounds of kibble for July and enough to feed 25 shelters (dogs and cats) for the month -- or about 1,500 every day of the month." Her organization is now providing food to two (soon three) shelters: Mimi's local shelter in Central Oregon, another near Seattle, and she will support a new one in Kansas this summer. Mimi told me that she will continue Freekibble when school starts again and wants to support animal shelters nationally. Her new sponsorship with ZooToo will likely help her to reach that goal. But, no matter how huge Freekibble becomes, she plans to keep running it herself with help from Mom and Dad on the site design. I asked Mimi what advice she could give other kids who want to help her or the animals. 
"Do everything you can do -- give your allowance to your local shelters, give a bag a food, and take care of your own pets!" Sound advice. Mimi's dreams continue. She wants to feed horses next, but will remain focused on dogs and cats in the short term. She wants to own her own animal sanctuary some day. I wanted to make sure she was saving time to just be a kid. "Oh yes! I'm riding horses and hanging out with my family this summer. I do have to make a trip to Bainbridge Island to visit our new shelter, though." I guess if I were still 12, I would consider a business trip "hanging out" too. So, take 10 minutes today and help Mimi out at Freekibble. You will be amazed at what she's created. Photos: Courtesy of Mimi Ausland. Top: Mimi volunteers at her local animal shelter. Below, Mimi plays with her 2-year-old golden retriever, Aspen. If you have nominations for our Tonic Generation Here of the Week, please email me at dan@tonicgen.com.
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