Honoring a ‘Friend’
On December 31, 2021, everyone lost a ‘friend,’ the one and only Betty White. On January 17th, the icon would have turned 100 years old and as a way to say thank you, fans from all over turned to social media to honor her.
Betty White was a lover of all animals and had a long-running relationship with the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA), as well as other rescues and shelters. “She first became involved when the zoo opened in 1966, and she became a trustee in 1974. In 2012, she celebrated her 90th birthday at the L.A. Zoo” (Spangler, 2022, para. 7).
White was also a trustee of the Morris Animal Foundation from 1971–2013. In 2010, she donated money in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which helped establish the Betty White Wildlife Fund. This fund helped sponsor more than 30 animal health studies. (Spangler, 2022, para. 8).
Murad Kirdar with the Santa Fe Animal Shelter even stated that “part of her contract with all her TV shows that she did in the past is she had to have an animal on set” (Lenninger, 2022, para. 3).
After her passing, fans on social media posted, tweeted, and made videos asking everyone to donate just $5 to an animal shelter or rescue to celebrate White’s legacy. Although people came together in a time of sadness and tragedy, the Betty White Challenge, as it was called, came at the perfect time.
“The challenge comes as shelters are inundated with animals and running at or above capacity. Since the pandemic started, many shelters and rescues had to cancel a majority of their events and fundraisers” (Lenninger, 2022, para. 6 and 8).
Personally, I contributed to the Betty White Challenge and donated to the Humane Society of Polk County. The donation was left under Betty White, which many other fans did as well. But just how successful was the challenge?
The LA Zoo raised “$70,389 on White’s birthday, with 1,731 donations coming from 49 states, the District of Columbia, and 11 countries. Donations continued to come in after her birthday, and the zoo says is has received 2,117 donations totalling $94,297 in White’s honor” (Cooper, 2022 para. 3). Another nonprofit organization that received numerous donations from the challenge is the Best Friends Animal Society. A representative says the group raised $340,000 through its website, social media, and fundraisers associalted with the challenge (Cooper, 2022, para. 4).
“On January 17th, according to Meta, more than 390,000 people have donated to fundraisers on Facebook and Instagram for the #BettyWhiteChallenge, raising $12.7 million for animal shelters and rescues” (Spangler, 2022, para. 3).
The #BettyWhiteChallenge just goes to show the power that social media can have when a community comes together for a cause. Challenges are a great way to raise money for a charity or nonprofit organization. We learned this from the Betty White Challenge, but previously from the #IceBucketChallenge. When social media challenges are done the right way, people can really make a difference in the world, which is eminent in this case. Betty White was a friend to humans and animals and what better way to honor her advocacy than raising millions of dollars to help her “four-legged friends.” I think Betty would be proud.
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