The Northern Ontario Animal Welfare Society got a lot of gifts for Betty White’s 100th birthday this past Monday.
The comic actor was an animal rights advocate. Her death last month prompted an online challenge to donate $5.00 to rescues and sanctuaries around the world.
“We’re overwhelmed by the outpouring of support,” says acting NOAWS president Tasha Eddy. Her group pulled in $4,415 for its work in Cochrane, Iroquois Falls, Matheson and Timmins. One donor is in British Columbia, another in Nova Scotia. It will go towards veterinary costs.
“We’ve had a rough couple months with some pups that came in that were quite ill and adopted out to forever homes,” Eddy says, but our ongoing vet costs on an average month will range between $5,000 to $10,000.”
Eddy doesn’t mind that the amount raised will cover about half a month.
“It’ll help us out a lot, though, and that’s why we continually fundraise. We do a lot of spay and neuters in a month.”
Eddy adds that it’s not too late to contribute to the Betty White Challenger, either.