7-year-old dedicates birthday to Pop Tart fundraiser for homeless

COOS BAY, Ore. — A 7-year-old girl in Coos Bay is making her birthday wish come true. Instead of asking for presents, she wants to feed the homeless. It’s a big undertaking, so Karly Mullanix is focusing on a simple way people can help, one Pop Tart at a time.

“I was like, ‘We should, we should go around Empire Lakes and walk around and give them to the people,'” Karly said.

So that’s what they did. Karly, the Pop Tart Princess, started handing them out on daily walks with her mother Claire.

“In one pack there’s two, and if you give them to the homeless, then there’s two and they can save it for later or they can eat it,” Karly said.

Then, Karly had another idea.

“She said, ‘I know what I want for my birthday.’ And fully expecting her to say something like Legos or baseball tickets, but instead she said, ‘I want Pop Tarts for the homeless,'” Claire said.

That idea sparked a fundraiser of Pop Tarts. They began working with a local nonprofit, the Devereux Center, to get the ball rolling. Pretty soon, Pop Tarts were popping up everywhere from donations. She ended up collecting over 5,000 Pop Tarts.

“She loves the smiles that they bring and it brings a smile to her face too. It makes her feel like she’s something, like she’s having an impact,” Claire said.

Karly’s 8th birthday is Friday. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, she can’t pass out the Pop Tarts herself, but the Devereux Center promised to deliver them around town and take lots of photos.

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