A love of animals, decades of service and a desire to help others is memorialized by the Alice T. Whitney Helping Hand Fund.

The fund was established by longtime League supporter and former director Jane Whitney Marshall in memory of her grandmother (a contemporary and friend of League Founder Anna Harris Smith), who became a vice president of the League in 1916 and served on the League’s Board of Directors from 1921 until her passing in 1955.

A Board tribute to Mrs. Whitney counted her as “among the League’s greatest benefactors… Her interest in League affairs has been untiring and her counsel has helped guide the destinies of this organization for nearly four decades … Always ready to extend a helping hand to those in need, Mrs. Whitney was admired by those who really knew her. Direct in her approach, she was nevertheless sincere and kind.”

Marshall notes, “My grandmother was a longtime contributor to efforts against animal cruelty, as I have been too. But in the spirit of the Animal Rescue League of Boston’s motto that ‘Kindness Uplifts the World,’ I felt something also needed to be done to assist caring owners who simply needed some help in providing vital care for their pets, and that was the genesis of the Alice T. Whitney Helping Hand Fund.”

The above photo of Alice Whitney and her husband Geoffrey was taken three years before Mrs. Whitney became a League Vice President. Says Marshall, “My grandparents both agreed that their love of animals was a factor in their attraction.”