After the passing of Betty White on December 31, the internet banded together to honour the legacy of this beloved actor and animal lover by setting up Betty White Day and the #BettyWhiteChallenge. To honour Betty, people were encouraged to donate to their local animal shelter on January 17, what would have been her 100th birthday.

“We put up the landing page so we could separate the donations for Betty White Day from our regular donations,” Taylor Huestis, Nova Scotia SPCA’s Communications & Development Officer said. “We thought that we would get a few extra donations that day and were shocked when the money started rolling in.”
The Nova Scotia SPCA is proudly open admission and has a no-kill policy. “We take in a lot of animals with serious medical issues,” said Huestis. “Watching the transformation as they’re rehabilitated is really beautiful, but because of the pandemic we were forced to do even more with even less resources.”
As donations started to come in for Betty White Day, so did many touching messages (and adorable pet photos) from donors.
“We are just so incredibly thankful,” says Huetis. “From providing safe sheltering to lifesaving veterinary care, these donations are really going to make a big difference. We will be naming the next kitty or pup after Betty so her legacy of love will live on. Betty White would have been 100… and so proud.”
The Betty White Day campaign raised a staggering $78,000 in donations from generous people in Nova Scotia and beyond. You can still participate in the #BettyWhiteChallenge and the SPCA has created a special donation page specifically for those donations so they can track the donation in honour of Betty and update her family and team.
“Covid has been really hard on the SPCA,” says Huestis. “All of the money raised from Betty White Day will really help us to manage through the pandemic.”
In addition to helping with the challenge, there are many ways you can support your local branch of the SPCA – shopping from the SPCA Thrift Stores, helping to replace supplies that were stolen during the Dartmouth SPCA robbery in 2021, leaving a gift in your will, and so much more.