Bea Arthur's Beautiful Gift

[ShibbOleth]

Bea Arthur leaves $300K to gay youth

(CNN) – “Golden Girls” star Bea Arthur’s generosity lives on.

The actress, who died in April, included a $300,000 donation to New York’s Ali Forney Center, an organization supporting homeless LGBT youth, in her will, leaving center Executive Director Carl Siciliano overwhelmed by her kindness.

Siciliano said he knew of Arthur’s plan to include the center in her will, but never knew the amount.

He had been struggling to keep the doors of the shelter open. The organization assists more than 1,000 people each year, providing shelter for those who had to leave home “for being who they are,” Siciliano said.

[Lord_Mondegreen]

Fantastic. Good on her. I hope others see this as a worthwhile example and follow her lead.

[lee]

I never heard her mention it in interview, but then I avoid most entertainment news. I enjoyed her work. I loved her character in Auntie Mame. I loved that she played characters who were not apologetic or self deprecating about her/their low voice and mannish looks. She stood tall and moved with grace. She was relentlessly funny too and her death leaves a vacuum that no one is filling.

[shantih]

What a classy thing to do! Good on her.

[RickJay]

I admit that the simple fact of a very rich person giving money to charity doesn’t much impress me; IMHO, it’s the moral duty of rich people to throw a few bones to the less fortunate. $300K wasn’t an unreasonable amount to Bea Arthur, an immensely successful actress who probably made more in one month’s worth of residual checks than my house is worth.

What I do like about the story, though, is that Arthur thought to include in her will a little-known, hard up local charity. It’s easy to send a few bucks to some big national organization and I’m not saying those aren’t worthwhile causes, but they do pretty well and there’s a law of diminishing returns with some of them. It’s often your local charities who are on the front lines fighting disadvantage and misery, and to whom twenty bucks is a big deal and Bea Arthur money is a lottery windfall.

If you’ve got a few bucks to spare and want to donate it to a worthy cause, have a look around your community. There’s probably a lot of local causes that will put your money to good use helping people who desperately need it.

[Max_Torque]

@RickJay

I admit that the simple fact of a very rich person giving money to charity doesn’t much impress me; IMHO, it’s the moral duty of rich people to throw a few bones to the less fortunate. $300K wasn’t an unreasonable amount to Bea Arthur, an immensely successful actress who probably made more in one month’s worth of residual checks than my house is worth.

What I do like about the story, though, is that Arthur thought to include in her will a little-known, hard up local charity. It’s easy to send a few bucks to some big national organization and I’m not saying those aren’t worthwhile causes, but they do pretty well and there’s a law of diminishing returns with some of them. It’s often your local charities who are on the front lines fighting disadvantage and misery, and to whom twenty bucks is a big deal and Bea Arthur money is a lottery windfall.

If you’ve got a few bucks to spare and want to donate it to a worthy cause, have a look around your community. There’s probably a lot of local causes that will put your money to good use helping people who desperately need it.

Seconded. It’s those little local charities that have to go begging to the Big Boys (United Way et. al.) for cash to keep them afloat. Direct donations are a godsend.

[/former Rape Crisis Center donor/volunteer]

[panache45]

Bea Arthur always had a very strong and loyal gay following. Nice to know she appreciated it. Good for her.

[Moirai]

Wonderful! She was such a classy broad (in the highest-possible-compliment kind of way).

[Ferret_Herder]

@RickJay

What I do like about the story, though, is that Arthur thought to include in her will a little-known, hard up local charity. It’s easy to send a few bucks to some big national organization and I’m not saying those aren’t worthwhile causes, but they do pretty well and there’s a law of diminishing returns with some of them. It’s often your local charities who are on the front lines fighting disadvantage and misery, and to whom twenty bucks is a big deal and Bea Arthur money is a lottery windfall.

You’re right. I suspect she may have even made similar contributions to big charities who barely even noticed, but to that charity, she is their salvation.

[Polycarp]

And most touching was not merely that it was a GBLT charity, that it was a local charity rather than a big national one, but that it was a center supporting homeless GBLT teenagers.

There’s a wide variety of advocacy groups doing good things to address a variety of injustices. But groups like the Ali Forney center are among the very few among them who on a near-daily basis make the difference between whether someone lives or dies.

There’s a difference. One that deserves support.

Rest easy, Bea. And know you’re still doing some good in the world.

[Ann_Onimous]

That is awesome: not only the gift, but the fact that a group like this exists. I just pray that, very soon, groups like this won’t be needed.

[DMark]

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I had the pleasure to work with Bea Arthur on numerous occasions and she was a very funny, talented woman.

She also had a lot of class, and this gift proves it - but if you ever met her, you would know that this is exactly the small act of kindness she would do.