A bat named Batty White is fluttering over UF’s campus.
About 150 bats have been named during a UF campaign encouraging people to donate money to symbolically name a bat that lives in the Bat Houses, said Megan Poole, the associate director of annual giving at UF Advancement.
UF Advancement, the facility in charge of fundraising for the university, is accepting donations through the campaign’s website, Poole said. The campaign began Oct. 18 and will end Sunday.
Donors can choose to send the donated money to UF Advancement or any UF college or facility, Poole said. She could not disclose the amount of money raised so far.
“Any gift, no matter the size, is important and has an impact,” Poole said.
Most donors have given the bats average names, except for Batty White, she said.
Although the bats won’t get a collar with their new name, the donor will be emailed a certificate commemorating their donation, she said.
The percentage of UF alumni who donate influences the university’s rankings on lists like the U.S. News and World Report’s Top 10 Public Universities, she said.
Parents can name a bat to commemorate their UF students, who are also “spreading their wings and flying the coop, so to speak,” Poole said.
Larry Peoples, a 32-year-old house painter for Dreyer’s DKI and Gainesville native, donated to UF Advancement on Wednesday. He has always been a Gator fan, he said.
Peoples named a bat Alexander Superbat after adventurer Chris McCandless, also known as “Alexander Supertramp.” McCandless is Peoples’ personal hero because they both love the outdoors, he said.
Peoples said he has been going to the Bat Houses since he was a kid and now likes to go take photos there.
“I’ve been more times than I can count on my hands and my toes,” he said.
A certificate given for bat donors.
