Northfield Student Raises Money to Buy Gifts for Minnesota Zoo Animals

Maia Garcia is putting her money where her heart is.

For the past two years, the sophomore at has saved her allowance, mowed grass and concocted mega-batches of caramel corn to benefit the Minnesota Zoo.

Her money-making prowess has netted her more than $500 to buy items on the zoo’s wish list, including a king-size exercise ball—a $200 purchase that is as durable as bowling ball, said Maia and her mom, Jan Burry—and a tire swing for gibbons.

Her next major purchase from the list is expected to be an inflatable raft for dolphin handlers. (Check out the wish list)

Maia said her reason for gifting the Apple Valley zoo is simple: She love animals.

“I grew up watching Steve Irwin and Jack Hanna because I’ve always been fascinated with animals,” she said. “And, I love being outside and working with animals.”

Her affection for animals is apparent in her interactions with her family’s two dogs, Cassie and Gabby, and her corn snake, Sunny, which slithered up and down Maia’s arms and handcuffed her wrists during the interview for this story.

Maia came upon the zoo’s wish list while doing an Internet search the summer before her ninth-grade year. What struck her about the list, she said, was that most purchases were small-ticket items costing a few dollars.

“So, I thought I’d go after a high priority item,” she said.

With about $50 of saved-up allowance as seed money, Maia began her fundraising efforts. Her first undertaking was as close as her back door: she took the job of mowing her family’s double-lot backyard.

“Instead of paying the neighbor boy, I thought I’d pay her,” Burry said. “I knew what she was going to use the money for.”

When the mowing season ended, Maia turned her efforts to the kitchen, where she made caramel corn from a recipe she learned in Northfield High’s family consumer science class. She sold dozens of plastic bags filled with the snack to neighbors and to visitors at Northfield’s annual .

“It was an easy recipe,” Maia said. “A couple of friends would come over and help. It was fun.”

She purchased a $150 tire swing and a few smaller items on her first $200 shopping spree through the wish list.

This past January, Maia bought the rugged exercise ball, which has been used by a number of animals at the zoo, including giraffes. It’s recently been the tigers’ turn to play with it.

Maia’s fundraising efforts has exposed her to a number of opportunities at the Minnesota Zoo. This past summer, she attended—as well as worked—at summer camps. And, she has become a member of the Wildlife Conservation Club, a group of 10 teenagers primarily from the Twin Cities that meets at the zoo and performs conservation-related projects.

“The zoo has been very good to her,” Burry said. “Christine McKnight, the enrichment specialist at the zoo, emails her to keep her up to date on the animals, and she has worked well with the members of the conservation club.”

Maia said that through her interactions with the zoo and its menagerie of tents, she is certain what career path she wants to take: wildlife conservation.

“Education is major,” she said. “You can’t start helping out animals until you learn about them.”