Recently, there have been numerous videos of people dumping buckets of ice-filled water over their heads. This "movement" was made viral due to the fact that most A-list celebrities have been doing it themselves.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is an activity wherein participants post a continuous video of themselves pouring a bucket of ice water over their heads, and challenging their friends or whoever they wish, to do the same thing in a span of 24 hours. Participants are expected to donate $10 to a charitable organization after doing the task. If the participant fails to do the actual ice bucket challenge, he or she must donate $100 to the foundation.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as ALS, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The ALS Association has made the movement in hopes of raising funds for their organization-and indeed they did. Currently, the association has raised 15.6 Million Dollars, and the numbers just keep getting higher.
Other celebrities are quick to get in on the challenge and donate more than what the challenge requires, but other celebrities have been skeptics at how some personalities fail to realize and address the actual cause for this challenge. Steve-O, star of MTV's "Jack-Ass", has recently posted his own ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video with the words:
"Since the ice bucket challenge began, over 15 million dollars has been raised for ALS research. I think that's great, but when you consider all the star power of... Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, and countless other A-list celebrities who have actively gotten behind this cause by posting videos - the fact that not more than fifteen million dollars has been raised is a tragedy. It's tragic because I don't believe one of those celebrities even bothered to share the slightest clue about how or where to donate money for ALS research - hell, I think Charlie Sheen and Bill Gates were the only ones who even hinted that the entire point IS to donate money. All those other celebrities just poured water over their heads and named three random people, without including any 'call to action', which actually benefits victims of ALS at all. Had all those celebrities given this cause any thought, hundreds of millions of dollars might have been raised, and a whole lot more awareness."
He then proceeded to challenge everyone to start a trend to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge but with an actual call to action, to inform people about what it really is about, and to inform them of ways to donate.
Regardless of the divided commentaries about this movement, the ALS Association is definitely at the winning end of this whole situation, Let's just hope they continue to raise funds at the rate they're going, and use it as how they're claiming it to be used.
