Why I Dumped A Bucket of Ice on My Head

The first time I saw a video on my Facebook feed of a friend dumping ice water on her own head, I thought, “What kind of dare did she get herself into?” and didn’t watch the video because I “didn’t have time” (which is dumb to think, I could have watched it, I wasn’t doing anything but looking at Facebook). Over the next couple days these videos started popping up more and more, this “dare” of drenching yourself with freezing water spread like a virus…indeed you could say it went “viral”. I had no choice but to watch and learn about what the heck was going on.

From what I understand the challenge goes like this. Once challenged you have 24 hours to either complete the cold water act AND donate at least $10 to an ALS charity of your choice OR you can forego the “fun” part and donate $100. Simple enough. When challenged I chose to donate and enjoy a cold bath. Why? Not because I didn’t want to fork over $100 but because I realize that AWARENESS can do just as much for a cause as a private donation…and dare I say, more. I realize that a 30 second video of me being silly and calling 5 other people out by name specifically to do the same is a lot more effective than a “Please donate to this GREAT cause!” post that will be scrolled right over 90% of the time.

As mentioned in my bio I study non-profit management (aka charity organizations), I have volunteered on committees working to raise money and awareness for a cause…it is NOT easy. It takes a lot of time. A lot of brainstorming. You have to get creative. Anything that catches peoples attention is worth a shot. And the ALS Association has done a GREAT job of calling attention. I have read quite a few articles surrounding ALS and the Ice Bucket Challenge…and I have to say while many are positive and uplifting, I find some of them incredibly negative and even downright offensive.

I head over to the ALS official website (ALSA.org) and read things that make me feel uplifted, they make me feel like ordinary people can make a difference right from their own backyard:

“We couldn’t be more thrilled with the level of compassion, generosity and sense of humor that people are exhibiting as they take part in this impactful viral initiative."

and

"While the monetary donations are absolutely incredible, the visibility that this disease is getting as a result of the challenge is truly invaluable. People who have never before heard of ALS are now engaged in the fight to find treatments and a cure for ALS."

But then I read articles like these pieces of negative “journalism” (you can read here and here). The mention things like narcissism and point out that “pouring a bucket of ice over your head wont cure ALS.” I mean seriously? You think we don’t know that? If you think that is what this is about then you clearly have no understanding of how marketing and advertisement work. We understand that freezing in our backyards isn't going to give someone with ALS the ability to walk again. Just like we understand that shaving my head wont cure cancer, fasting for 30 hours wont stop starving children from dying everyday, or running an obstacle course wont give a wounded soldier his leg back. We understand that but we do it anyway. Why? Because it matters. Because thanks to people dumping ice on there heads millions of people who had never even heard of ALS (myself included) now know and care a little more about it.

So, NO dumping a bucket of ice on my head wont cure ALS but neither will your negative comments and articles. If you don’t want to dump a bucket of ice on your head, you don’t have to. But don’t tell me it doesn’t matter. Don’t tell this family it doesn’t matter (VIDEO LINK).

To learn more about ALS, make a donation and learn more about what you can do click HERE