ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (Read 321 times)

Have you been challenged?

I was, so I made my video for it.  I know the challenge wasn't first tied to ALS, but it definitely raised my awareness of the disease.  All I knew about it before was Lou Gehrig had it and it cut him down in the prime of his career.  (Look at his stats once.  That man was a beast of a ball player!)  Anyways, I did the ice bucket challenge, and I donated.

Oh, and I spelled neuron wrong in the video.  Sorry, Trent.

No it's donate $100 or do the icebucket challenge while bringing up ALS to raise awareness and donate a more manageable amount.

I don't get the videos not mentioning ALS and not donating...that almost seems cruel and more attention grabbing me me me

Hi Tief

 

I got called out by a parent at our school.  We tried to get the whole family involved.  My wife and I donated too, though I gather its technically either/or.  Great idea to raise money for this cause.  Video link here:

http://youtu.be/MY0RNWzBI

 

 

Who did you call out?

 

I don't get the videos not mentioning ALS and not donating...that almost seems cruel and more attention grabbing me me me 

I have 2 family members (through marriage) with a sister disease very similar to ALS (known as Spinal Muscular Atrophy).  Their disease has the same basic protein production challenge.  I personally believe that the awareness of ALS without the donation is very acceptable.  Those that can donate may donate, but the viral event that occurred over the past 2 weeks has been amazing and has raised millions of dollars for ALS.  Super cool!

My college age son and his friends can't donate, but they can raise awareness to a disease that very few people know about personally.

The origin of the ice bucket challenge wasn't for ALS.  It was the story of Pete Frates that went to the top professional athletes in Boston, and then nationally that then went viral for every day Joe's like me.  Now, the majority of the ice bucket challenges are for ALS while other ice bucket challenge causes still exist.

With that being said, I cannot believe that people are still posting videos on Facebook.  It seems as if all 337 of my Facebook friends have already posted, when all of sudden another 4 new videos pop up.

Cheers,
Brian

 

 

I don't get the videos not mentioning ALS and not donating...that almost seems cruel and more attention grabbing me me me

 

I agree with this thought.   Many folks do it and don't donate a dollar.  I also think the campaign is getting a little long in the tooth.

But...   Bottom line is that overall, the campaign has raised awareness.  Donations to ALS have increased massively.   I forget the number they stated on the news, but donations are way, way up, and that is great news for those who suffer from ALS.

--- One final note, I hope the campaign reemerges 6 months from now in February when it is Negative 14 degrees outside in places like MN or WI.  Now THAT is a real challenge.  

There's this take on it:

 

The Worst Part of the Ice Bucket Challenge...

Dude... Perfect.  Thank you!

 

But...   Bottom line is that overall, the campaign has raised awareness.  Donations to ALS have increased massively.   I forget the number they stated on the news, but donations are way, way up, and that is great news for those who suffer from ALS.

 

The last numbers I had heard was $15.8M raised in the last month as compared to last year in the same time period, the amount raised was something like $2M.

There is no way to go know what will go viral. ALS got lucky that this one caught on like it did and the majority of the ones I've watched did mention making a donation. Pinkwashing is so common and so engrained in society; other diseases really have to fight for donations.

I don't Facebook, but my son does.

When he asked my brother to dump an chest of ice water over his head I was baffled.

Then he explained what the mess was for. This 19 year old boy who works 3 jobs just to make a living gets tongue tied explaining that Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is an incurable progressive neurodegenerative disease.  It strikes without warning. There's no way to predict it or stop it.

Do we know anyone affected by ALS? No. Without this campaign would he have heard or cared that there were people out there with ALS who desperately need a cure? I doubt it.

Others can complain that kids are just making posts to grab their 5 minutes of fame. I'll choose to be glad that this event has raised ALS awareness nationwide and in the eyes of 1 young man.

Do we know anyone affected by ALS? No.

Yes, my uncle suffered for years before it took him, and a good friend from college died of ALS in his early 40s.  It's not as common as cancer, but it's out there.