Update: “Protect Betty White from 2016” GoFundMe Funds Donated to Carolina Theater

One month after launching a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to save famous actress Betty White from 2016, aka the year of celebrity deaths, the initiative’s creator, Demetrios Hrysikos, presented a check of $9,245 to the Spartanburg Little Theatre in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Hrysikos stated on the campaign’s website:

“Help 2016 catch these hands if it goes anywhere near Betty White! If she’s okay with it I will fly to where ever Betty White is and keep her safe till Jan 1 , 2017. Now , assuming she doesn’t want a strange Greek standing [guard] outside her door all monies will be donated to the Spartanburg little theater to help craft new stars of stage and screen to carry mantle of the legends that have left is this year.”

Originally seeking $2,000, the campaign quickly captured the funding target, causing Hrysikos to extend the raise amount to $10,000. Although the campaign didn’t reach the new target goal, all funds were still given to the theater. During a recent interview, Hrysikos discussed the funds and what the theater will use it for:

“I know that it’s in the right hands now and I know they’re going to do good with it.”

Jay Coffman, Spartanburg Little Theatre’s executive artist director, also noted that the funds would be used for the youth programs’ scholarship program. He added:

“I think that definitely brought attention to what we were doing to people that may not have known.”