Greta Thunberg Donates Her Entire $100,000 Prize Money to Pandemic Relief

Greta Thunberg has done many amazing things in her short life...

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But her most recent gesture may have just topped them all.

But first, let's recap...

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In the last couple of years, the seventeen-year-old activist has risen to unprecedented levels of fame regarding her fierce passion for climate change and the environment.

But, just over a year ago, she was relatively unknown.

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Greta would regularly sit on her own outside Swedish parliament, first staging a "School Strike for Climate" in August last year. In the weeks leading up to the country’s general election, Thunberg sat on the steps outside of the parliament building in Stockholm, holding up the now-iconic sign that read “Skolstrejk För Klimatet" — translating to “school strike for climate."

The teen would sit outside the building during school hours for 3 weeks.

Her demands were that the Swedish government reduce carbon emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement. By sacrificing her education to protest for action, Thunberg began to conjure up attention and gain traction online.

Her unwavering commitment to the environment has woken the rest of the world.

While a little over a year ago, the name "Greta Thunberg" was relatively unknown, now it is the first name that springs to mind when you think of the climate change movement.

Thunberg is known for delivering blistering, matter-of-fact speeches about the urgency of what she calls the "climate crisis."

If we fast-forward to today, she continues to hold governments accountable during her powerful talks, which have seen her nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and placed in TIME's top one-hundred influential people in the world list.

And she has gone to great lengths to fight her cause.

In July last year, the teen ditched environmentally damaging air travel and sailed across the Atlantic to attend the U.N. climate summits in the U.S. and Chile.

And her youth school strike movement hs continued to grow on a mass scale.

On September 20, 2019,  millions around the world, from London to New York, Sydney to Colombia, ditched the classroom to peacefully protest for climate action in what Thunberg dubs "Fridays for Future."

She's also backed by a whole host of famous faces.

Including the likes of Michelle Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It's been a busy year for the teen.

Thunberg was even listed as 1 of 4 winners of the 2019 Right Livelihood Award, which is widely known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize," as well as honored as TIME's Person of the Year. 

But, in recent months, she's had to make her activism digital.

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The ongoing medical pandemic has brought a temporary halt to the teenager's protests, rallies, speeches, and appearances.

But that doesn't mean she hasn't been continuing with her work.

Greta has remained active on all social media platforms, and she has reminded her followers that "we can’t solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis and we must unite behind experts and science."

In a lengthy thread, she urged people to listen to the experts.

And encouraged her followers to find "new ways to create public awareness & advocate for change that doesn't involve big crowds."

But, despite remaining in quarantine herself...

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The activist reportedly suffered from symptoms of the virus.

Last month, she took to Instagram to inform her fans of her condition...

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Where she wrote: "When I returned from my trip around Central Europe I isolated myself (in a borrowed apartment away from my mother and sister) since the number of cases of COVID-19 (in Germany for instance) were similar to Italy in the beginning."

Around ten days into her quarantine, she started to experience the symptoms.

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"I started feeling some symptoms, exactly the same time as my father - who traveled with me from Brussels. I was feeling tired, had shivers, a sore throat, and coughed. My dad experienced the same symptoms, but much more intense and with a fever."

Because of restrictions in Sweden, Greta didn't get tested for the virus.

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"I have therefore not been tested for COVID-19, but it’s extremely likely that I’ve had it, given the combined symptoms and circumstances."

Luckily, Greta made a full recovery.

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But she had a strong message for her followers. "AND THIS IS THE BOTTOM LINE: I almost didn’t feel ill. My last cold was much worse than this! Had it not been for someone else having the virus simultaneously I might not even have suspected anything. Then I would just have thought I was feeling unusually tired with a bit of a cough. And this is what makes it so much more dangerous."

And she reminded people to continue self-isolating...

Even if they don't have symptoms.

Evidently, preventing any further spread of the virus is a huge deal for the activist...

And she has been continuing her school strikes from her home.

This girl isn't going to let a little medical pandemic get in the way of her message...

And, recently, she did something remarkable for the fight against the deadly virus.

She was recently credited for her work.

The Danish non-governmental organization, Human Act, awarded Thunberg $100,000 in recognition of her global activism.

It is a huge prize.

But Greta has decided that, rather than keeping all that money for herself, it'd be better to give it to a cause that really needs it.

She has given every penny to help protect disadvantaged children against the deadly virus.

UNICEF, an agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide, will be using her donation to launch a child-rights driven campaign to prevent the spread of the virus.

It is an incredible gesture.

She wrote on Instagram: "Just like the climate crisis, the consequences of the corona pandemic will be most damaging for children in poor countries, in the poorest neighborhoods and for those already in disadvantaged and vulnerable situations." "So today we are launching a joint global funding campaign – Let’s Move Humanity for Children in the Fight Against Coronavirus – to support UNICEF´s efforts to protect and save children’s lives during the corona crisis."

Her campaign will certainly benefit the lives of thousands of children.

For more on how celebrities are helping children during this pandemic, keep scrolling to read about the famous faces helping out during the pandemic...