Several months ago, an adorable acquaintance of mine posted a video on Facebook where she was doing something for charity & was going to dump a bucket of ice water over her head. I was really baffled! Then she called out who else she wanted to do the same.
I knew she had to be crazy. (But that's part of why I like her.)
Then, just a few weeks ago, someone we know from StL posted a video on Facebook where she was doing something for charity & was going to dump a bucket of ice water over her head...
Sound familiar?
I paid more attention this time & realized it was to support ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - aka: Lou Gehrig's Disease).
So, here's what goes down:
If someone accepts a challenge from someone else who dumps a bucket of ice water over their heads, they, too, either dump a bucket of ice water over their heads (recorded for proof) within 24 hours or pay up $100 to ALSA in the association's support. (Although, usually...folks will do both: dump & donate.) Some have chosen to say they are donating to a different cause, but for the most part, it's been for ALS.
This is a great campaign to bring awareness to ALS!
From www.alsa.org:
"As of Friday, August 22, The ALS Association has received $53.3. million in donations compared to $2.2 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 21). These donations have come from existing donors and 1.1 million new donors to The Association."
That's right, folks. It has spread like wildfire & has taken the interwebz by storm! You'd be hard pressed, right now, not to look at your Facebook newsfeed, thru the Twittersphere, celebrities' videos posted in news articles on Yahoo!, and even covered by many news stations! It's gone viral! And you haven't seen this yet, you've lived under a rock.
I'd been pretty pleased. I have been entertained by many. And I was sitting here, smugly silent, about how I hadn't been nominated. And probably more surprised my hubby hadn't been yet, either! But it really was OK. I didn't mind. Not like I would want a bucket of ice water dumped...on...my...
Ruh-roh.
Yesterday evening, it happened. Hubby & I were BOTH challenged! D'oh!! And on a day I have been trying to get established as #PhilanThursday (more on that in the near future). Just sharing some chances to be a philanthropist, and it happened on PhilanThursday!! So, I didn't have much choice but to openly accept.
So, we started planning...we had to move swiftly...
How would we pull this one off?
Who should we nominate?
After our first Friday back, officially, for the school year...even though we had to get our usual grocery shopping in, we were trying to work in some conversation. We talked about Christmas, we talked about rearranging our living room, we rearranged our living room, and how to hand THE CHALLENGE!
So, we decided who we wanted to challenge, worked on our timing...especially so we could get in our 24-hour time period, and how we could get it to be set apart from others we've seen... So we got our list of nominees, decided we would dress as Superman & Wonder Woman (I was the one dressed as Wonder Woman in a cosTUTUme, of course. Just to be clear.), got Teen Boy & Lil Guy to come help record our endeavor for proof, and then nearly got hypothermia after laying down our challenges!
Ummm...it was really cold. And, could you tell? Lil Guy (who recorded from my phone) thought it was hilarious! You know what? As cold as it was...what fun! And what a great cause!
I would also like to point out that the challenge has somewhat gotten out of hand by having someone else dump the water on the one challenged. The ones who have the Gatorade coolers dumped on them were from around National Football League & Major League Baseball get a slight out...cuz it's funny & fitting. After they win a game, the coach &/or player of the game get doused with what's left in the Gatorade cooler! Other than that...you are supposed to dump it on yourselves. My hubby & I have talked about how disappointed we are with the challenges shown who have others do it for them. When we got challenged, we KNEW we would have to dump the water on ourselves!
Also...we wanted to make sure we were by our apple tree so it could get a little extra water the best we could for the video. We would have done it in our garden...but we do not have a garden.
So, if you are challenged to do this, have fun with it! But also get to know what it is you're doing it for. It's more than just a deadline challenge. People suffer, folks! You can suffer for 2 seconds-ish. We did...and lived!
Oh, the things we do for charity!
Stay tuned...
God Bless, AM~Erica
