Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Betty White may not have ever visited Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre in Napanee, but the late Hollywood legend has still had a major impact on the local animal rehabilitation centre.
SWPC has been gifted over $24,000 by fans of the late star that have been taking part in the Betty White Challenge. As a tribute to White’s love of animals, fans around the world have been supporting animal charities in honour of what would have been her 100th birthday. She passed away on Dec. 31, just weeks away from her centennial birthday. White’s acting career spanned eight decades but she was just as known for her compassion towards animals as she was for her comedy.
Leah Birmingham, assistant director at SPWC, says she first heard of the challenge through social media. Being a fan of White herself, Birmingham thought it would be a great way to honour the Golden Girl and issued the challenge to SWPC supporters to donate as little as $5. They responded in a big way.
“To put that in perspective, that’s more than the Baby Shower, when we had in person,” Birmingham said of the $24,000 that had been raised with more money still coming in. “It’s just a amazing and what a testament to the woman she was and what an impact she had on everybody in North America that inspired so many people to do that.”
The unexpected generosity will go towards the day-to-day operations of the centre.
“Events like this are great because they don’t have to be earmarked for anything in particular,” said Birmingham. “It’s hard for small not-for-profits to even get grants but when you do it’s usually associated to something, some kind of a project.”
Grants are usually tied to medical equipment or some kind of construction project. This money can instead be used for something less flashy-though equally important-such as hydro bills.
“We’re always complaining about the effect social media has had on our lives, there’s some negative ones,” said Birmingham. “But coming from working in a not-for-profit field, when you need to get the word out there, social media is very useful and has a way getting into people’s lives whether they want it to or not. Passively or actively something like that is going to come across your feed on something and change your day and change the course of this decision to make. There had to be a lot of people who don’t typically donate to animal charities that did so specifically because of this. It’s pretty amazing.”
Though White’s birthday was Jan. 17, anyone looking to donate to the centre in her name can still do so through e-transfer to SandyPinesWC@Gmail.com or through Canada Helps and searching Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre. There’s also the centre’s monthly 50/50 draw, which closes Jan. 30. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.rafflebox.ca/raffle/sandypines.
Also benefitting from the Betty White Challenge was Napanee Community Kitten Rescue, which reported receiving $7,972 which they say will be used towards vet care, medicine, food, spays and neuters.