Instagram Model Raises $700,000 for Australia by Selling Nudes

Not all heroes wear capes, some wear nothing at all. This is the case for Instagram model Kaylen Ward. She has been in the modeling industry since August of 2019. While on vacation in the Caribbean she heard the news about Australia and decided she needed to do something about it.

"I donated $1,000 myself" she told The Guardian Australia but then took to her social media to see if anyone else wanted to chip in. With 30,000 followers, there sure is power in numbers... and nudes.

Around 10 pm on January 3rd, she tweeted a nude photo with an angel emoji acting as a community standards cloak with a list of charities by it's side saying "For every $10 you send to any of these charities I will send you a nude photo or video. Just send me a screenshot of your donation and the photos will arrive shortly after."

By the end of the night, she had screenshots adding up to over $7,000, and by the next morning over $100,000 was raised. The original tweet has been retweeted over 77,000 times. The exact total has not been calculated but she believes it has already surpassed $700,000. She has received so many screenshots of donations that she hired people to review them and confirm the legitimacy. Some donations coming in have exceeded $5,000 for an individual donation.

The model says it's more than just helping Australia. She was affected by the fires in norther California back in 2018 saying "I got to see first hand how fires like that can affect people and how devastating they are."

Her posts have done more than encourage people to donate. In fact other "models" have seen her efforts and have been inspired to do the same thing. Katie Day from Vancouver noticed the posts and announced on January 6th that she will be joining the cause and selling her photos as well. She alone has raised over $1,000 in 24 hours.

Ward also posted her efforts to Instagram, reaching out to over 60,000 more people. Sadly Instagram wasn't too keen to allow the solicitation on their platform due to the "community standards" which does not allow nude photos to be posted or shared, even in private messages. So the social media platform has deleted her account. She says she has tried to make new accounts but they just keep getting deleted or banned. The worst part, for her she says is that people have created accounts under her name, yet those have not been deleted. "People are stealing my identity through Instagram" Ward says.

Despite the backlash from both Instagram and Twitter, she remains positive saying "People are always going to have their opinions especially if you're in this line of work. If you are doing it for a good cause and you know you are still a good person, never let anybody get to you or make you feel like you are less-than."

The power of the poon-tang, welcome to 2020. If you wish to donate to the Australian Red Cross you can do so here. I don't think they will be sending any nudes though.