You don't often hear about beauty vloggers and the Special Olympics in the same sentence. And as far as Special Olympic coverage goes, we’re not necessarily looking to YouTube for info. But this year, things are changing. GoFundMe announced today that five YouTube stars are taking part in the very first social fundraising collaboration for the competition. And you might recognize some of the names getting involved.
Burnie Burns and Gavin Free of Rooster Teeth, Matt Santoro, Meredith Foster, and Teala Dunn are teaming up to help raise $25K and bring the 2,700 Special Olympic athletes to the 2017 Winter World Games in Austria. All five of them have created individual GoFundMe pages, where each individual will highlight an athlete, share their story, and expenses needed to get them to the Games this year. The best part, besides the initiative itself, is that Foster and Dunn are best friends and roommates in real life, so seeing the two of them getting together for an extremely important cause is beyond inspiring. Considering both girls have more than 4 million followers on Instagram and 7 million YouTube subscribers combined, putting their names at the forefront is a smart move. Because, funny videos and beauty tutorials aside, it's the athletes' names that deserve the attention.
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“Special Olympics is near and dear to my heart, and I’m thrilled to use GoFundMe to spread the word to Merebears everywhere and raise money for such a worthy cause,” Foster said on the site.
The Special Olympics will take place on March 14 through March 25. Along with the YouTubers, there will also be a number of other special guests showing support for the athletes, like past Olympians, influencers, and professional athletes. (Even Julia Mancuso and Apolo Ohno even shared messages of encouragement to Special Olympic athletes in a video embodying the entire message of hope and inclusion the Games serves.)
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