Image via Complex Original
This feature is a part of Lil BUB Week. Check in each morning at 8 a.m. EST for more.
There are more than a few things that make Lil BUB special, and much of it goes beyond her irresistibly cute appearance. She shares her lovable energy through meet and greets around the nation, raising awareness for animals and helping to collect donations for various causes. So far, she has raised over $30,000 towards saving less fortunate pets' lives. Lil BUB's charity efforts began on her online store, where she started modeling for exclusive merchandise. Learn 10 Ways Lil BUB's Charity Is Helping Cats Everywhere and be inspired to follow in her paw prints.
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Lil BUB's Bubuddies page on Facebook brings attention to various fundraising charities, animals in need, and information about rescues and shelters. The page has helped to collect $5,000 worth of donations for a number of organizations and pets. Lil BUB has donated an additional $1,000 from her own pocket to the causes that she highlights on the page.
Lil BUB was involved in the 2013 Pets Alive Calendar project for the nonprofit spay/neuter and vaccination clinic in Bloomington, Indiana. She donated $273 during the submission and voting process and helped raise another $2,500 as people voted to include her in the calendar.
Pets Alive Calendar Sales
As she is quite outspoken about the importance of neutering and spaying of pets, Lil BUB extended her aid to the Pets Alive nonprofit clinic by selling their 2013 Calendar on her website and raising another $4,750 from the sales of 950 calendars.
Donations from Online Store
Lil BUB continues to donate a portion of the profits from her online store to the Monroe County Humane Association, Pets Alive, and the Exotic Feline Rescue Center, all based in Bloomington, Indiana. She has currently donated almost $3,000 to each organization, $9,000 in total.
Granting Permission for Image Use
Lil BUB grants permission for organizations to use her image in various products, as long as they donate a larger sum of their profits to animal charities.
Hurricane Sandy and ASPCA
To aid in the Hurricane Sandy relief, which affected not only humans but also millions of animals, Lil BUB vowed to give 100% of proceeds collected over 24 hours from the sales of her online store to the ASPCA.
Lil BUB organizes various meet and greets at local pet shelters in order to bring attention to these establishments and animals in need of homes. She also gives 30% of profits made from selling merchandise at the events to the hosting shelters.
Proceeds from Meet and Greets
In various meet and greets, Lil BUB was able to help collect impressive donations. At the Bloomington Animal Shelter she raised $150, at the Brooklyn Animal Resource Center $1,000, at the Oliver/Bloomington Animal Shelter $530, at the Los Angeles ASPCA $2,680, and at the Oregon Humane Society she helped raise $1,945.
Lil BUB has organized meet and greet events all around the country, making appearances at Brooklyn Animal Resource Center (BARC) in New York, at the SPCA in Los Angeles, at The Oregon Humane Society in Portland, and at the Oliver Winery in downtown Bloomington.
At meet and greets, Lil BUB allows her fans to take pictures with her and even pet and scratch her. Fans often donate food and litter to the pet shelters, which sometimes accumulates to hundreds of pounds of donations.
