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If you have been on Facebook in the past week you have probably seen videos of people of all ages getting doused with buckets of ice cold water. These videos are part of an effort started by 29-year-old Beverly, Mass. resident Pete Frates, who was diagnosed two years ago with ALS, to help raise awareness of what commonly is called ‘Lou Gehrig’s Disease.’
The basic idea behind the videos is that friends will film each other dumping buckets of ice water on themselves, and then subsequently posting those videos on Facebook where they tag three to five friends or relatives, daring them to do the challenge themselves or to donate $100 to an ALS charity of their choice within 24 hours of the video being uploaded.
The benefits of these videos are that they:
- Raise awareness for ALS exponentially as people share them with friends and
- Urge participants to contribute to an organization seeking a cure.
On a personal note, I, along with two others, was called out by my friend Ted O’Rourke to do the challenge via a video on Facebook. While admittedly I was not jumping for joy to have a bucket of ice water dropped on my head, I eventually decided that not doing it just seemed to be a bit of a copout, plus it didn’t hurt that I had just come back from a 3-hour soccer practice in sweltering heat, so at that point the ice water was very much welcome.
Here is the video I posted onto my Facebook wall where I nominate two of my friends as well as my older sister: