Monday would have been Betty White’s 100th birthday, and some of the fans who loved her (this includes anyone who has turned on a television set since the 1950s) decided to remember her by honoring her most beloved cause: protecting animals.
As such, the #BettyWhiteChallenge, which implores people to give to a local animal shelter in White’s name, spread on social media, and one meme is so wholesome that the Twitter account @wholesomeme has promoted it to the tune of over 3,000 likes.
As CBS News reports, the idea for the challenge may have its roots in a tweet by someone named Lisa Powell, who, according to her Twitter bio, is a Hallmark fan who loves beaches and thinks coffee is essential. (Indeed, her handle is @icedcofees.) When Ryan Reynolds noted the passing of his Proposal co-star White on New Year’s Eve, Powell quote-tweeted him, suggesting that on her birthday, people donate to animal shelters. “It’s the least we can do,” she wrote.
The idea caught on. A Twitter account called “Golden Girls Quotes” wrote they would contribute $5 for every 50 likes, up to a maximum of $50. That last bit is important, as the tweet accrued well over 4,000 likes since January 5. (We don’t know how lucrative quoting The Golden Girls online is these days, though we do recognize it is a necessary service!)
Leading up to Betty’s 100th, the internet was ablaze with images of the beloved actress with animals of all kinds, plus some classic clips relevant to the fundraising effort, and even some fan art.
White’s work with animal safety began in the 1940s, and she had an affiliation with the Los Angeles Zoo stretching back to 1966. She once wrote: “Animals don’t lie. Animals don’t criticize. If animals have moody days, they handle them better than humans do.” She also reportedly said that she has “to stay in show business to pay for my animal business.”
At the time of her death, White only had one pet: Her Golden Retriever, Pontiac, whom she cared for since he was a puppy. Pontiac was regularly seen on White’s social media accounts.
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