“I just feel like I’ve been given a very blessed life and a great opportunity and a great platform to hopefully inspire people to do better in their lives, and it’s just simple as taking the first step,” says Arianny Celeste.
Arianny, a model, UFC ring girl, and influencer for her over 3 million Instagram followers, has obtained a large following since her UFC debut in 2006. Her beauty is immediately apparent on sight, but so is her kindness and altruistic nature.
Celeste has been working with animal rights groups, and charities that help with natural disasters “her whole life,” and in the thick of the current pandemic, she was not going to stop now.
Celeste has started a GoFundMe to raise donations for nurses dealing with a shortage of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). The GoFundMe has raised over $6,000.
With a connect through her friend’s husband for USIDG (United States Individuals Doing Good), Celeste has been able to send the funds to them, and source medical-grade PPE for nurses in need.
“I have a close girlfriend, Mary, who is a nurse in Vegas, and I saw her stories on Instagram and it really just broke my heart to see her not have the proper protective wear at work. She was scared.”
Arianny told us that Mary was ordering ponchos on Amazon, and having to reuse her masks. Actions taken out of desperation. Actions taken by someone fearful for their life, who saw no other options.
As inconsiderate as it may sound, there is a clear distinction between knowing there are people struggling, in anguish, in desperate need of help, and knowing that someone very close to you is one of these people.
Especially in the earlier stages of when COVID-19 struck the United States hard, it took a while for some people (and let’s be honest, privileged people) to understand and really viscerally feel the severity of the virus.
“I think that… you don’t really get it until you have it happen to somebody that’s close to you. It makes it real and… you wanna make a difference if there’s somebody that you know that’s suffering because of COVID-19, so I just figured I would make the GoFund, and it kind of blew up really quickly,” honestly expresses Celeste.
The efforts taken by Celeste have so far helped several nurses at seven different hospitals during this time.
Speaking of her friend’s husband and the USIDG, Celeste says, “He gave me the lowest price per mask, per shield, per gown, and I was able to get as much as possible with the funds that I got from the Gofund.”
The action of sending equipment directly to nurses instead of using a larger organization or middle-man is not the least bit regular. But to know exactly where your efforts go, and to know the faces of the people you help; that is a feeling and understanding that local and personal charity work provides.
“It was just nice to have the funds directly to me. I could count them all up, I could show the public, ‘hey this is how much we made this week,’” says Celeste. “And I’m venmoing it to my girlfriend right now from the USIDG and this is all… it’s very transparent, it’s very real.
A clear face of UFC, Celeste is also involved with a number of business ventures. She is the founder of Girlfriend Box, has modeled extensively, and is working on another product for women which as of yet “is not even out there.”
And her charity work after devastating natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake is a hallmark of the influencer that most people do not know about.
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“I like the satisfaction of knowing it’s happening. Donating to local churches, we see, every Sunday, they’re handing out food, they’re helping people directly… it felt better for me to just do it small than just to team up with a big company, or a big corporation or a big organization.”
Celeste is currently expanding her efforts in trying to find nurses who need assistance. COVID-19 may seem like it is slowing down to some people, but that reckless notion could not be further from reality and the proper safety measures that should still widely be in place.
“I’ve been keeping in touch with Mary closely and checking on her and… she thinks that there’s gonna be another wave, so, if there’s another wave, we’ll be right there with her and helping her out and making sure that she’s safe.”
Celeste was shocked in the first few weeks of quarantine like everyone. The fear of the unknown, the shortage of basic needs in supermarkets and people panicking.
But with time, and fortune to have the ability even to social distance, the time away from nonstop work and movement has been a salvation for some people. Or maybe it’s just trying to find the positives in a bleak, bleak time.
“I’ve used this time to just really self-reflect and meditate and hang out with the people that I love the most. As much as it could have been painful or upsetting, it is an eye-opener just to see what’s important in life.”
People with the proper means are encouraged to donate to the GoFund here.