New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Local animal shelters get boost from Betty White Challenge
SHORELINE — Betty White’s 100th birthday celebration continues at local animal shelters as donations keep pouring in for the #bettywhitechallenge.
At the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter in Branford, donations so far have reached some $12,000 and are continuing to grow, said Director Laura Burban.
“I kind of anticipated we would get tons of $5 [donations], just because that was the challenge,” she said. “But people really tended to give a lot more than that. They tended to give $25 or $50. We had people give $100.”
White died New Year’s Eve, just weeks shy of her 100th birthday on Jan. 17. Off screen she was a passionate animal advocate, receiving the National Humanitarian Award and the Legacy Award from American Humane in 2012.
Rising to a social media invitation, the #bettywhitechallenge, animal lovers showed their love for White and their furry friends by donating thousands of dollars to area animal organizations on her birthday.
“I was in shock and excited because I didn’t know what to expect,” Burban said.
“I didn’t know what to anticipate and I really thought it was going to be a struggle at the $5,000 [mark],” she said, referring to the shelter’s #bettywhitechallenge goal.
“I just thought people have been struggling, themselves, and not that they didn’t adore Betty White, but I just felt like people have a lot of things going on and I didn’t know if they were going to be able to focus on this,” she added.
Currently, Burban said her shelter is housing cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice and a leopard gecko.
This money will be used for “anything that they need that will help them to recuperate, rehabilitate,” said Burban. This may include medical care, specialty enclosures, food, surgeries and special bedding.
Burban attributed the success of this social media campaign to the admiration many had for White.
“I think that Betty White was an iconic figure who people related to because of her authentic nature,” she said.
“A lot of times people have opinions about actresses and famous people or actors and I just feel everybody was in agreement that she was an amazing human inside and out,” she added. “I think people just sort of gravitated towards her because of that.”
The Branford Compassion Club posted the #bettywhitechallenge on its Facebook page and collected $1,540.
In addition, an anonymous donor wrote a check for $3,000, bringing the grand total to $4,540.
“It’s great,” said Peg Johnson, president of the Compassion Club. “We
were all happy to see that on Facebook and then we were even blown over when we got the check for $3,000.”
At the Compassion Club’s North Branford facility, more than 200 cats are rescued annually and adopted out into the community. The organization will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year.
“Our biggest expenses are veterinary care,” Johnson said. “We spend between $100,000 and $120,000 a year just on veterinary care.”
Johnson explained that it costs about $550 for a healthy cat to get spayed,
neutered and up to date on shots and vaccinations.
“However, if they come in with serious health problems, it costs a lot more,” she said.
She said their mission is twofold.
“We are not only saving cats,” she added. “But we’re providing a service to the community, to the people who find these cats outside and they don’t know what to do with them, they’re abandoned or lost and they call us. We help them.”
For Killingworth’s Hope Alliance, donations totaled $1,500 to help care for special needs cats.
“For us, this is a lot of money because we’re a pretty small organization,” said owner Lisa Ruoppolo.
While Ruoppolo said many people donated $5, the biggest donation they received was $500.
“I was kind of shocked,” she said. “We don’t see that very often.”
Ruoppolo said she feels very loved by the community that supports her mission of caring for felines at end of life with kidney failure, cancer and heart
disease.
In addition, she explained, “everybody here is middle aged and older. They required really specialized care.”
She added some are missing limbs and may have come from circumstances in which they were tortured or abused.
Currently there are six cats in her care.
The Valley Shore Animal Welfare League in Westbrook reported receiving $1,000 from the challenge.
Burban said she believes White would be pleased that the animals she left behind are being well taken care of, in her memory.
“I really believe that she would be smiling about that and it would just make her happy,” she said.
Compassion Club of Branford, website: branfordcompassionclub.org
Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter website: branfordct.gov/departments/animalshelter
Hope Alliance, website: hope-alliance.org
Valley Shore Animal Welfare League website: https://www.valleyshoreanimalwelfareleague.org/