By Emma Izzo ’15

Even if you haven’t accepted a nomination to douse yourself in freezing cold water, you’re bound to know about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The Ice Bucket Challenge is where a person has 24 hours to dump a bucket of freezing cold water all over his or herself, or donate $100. The Ice Bucket Challenge dominated Facebook feeds all throughout August.

“Facebook users engaged with the Ice Bucket Challenge viral fundraising phenomenon more than twice as much as they did the Ferguson protests in mid-August,” according to a September 3 article in USA Today’s. The Ice Bucket Challenge has quite literally “soaked” the nation. The Hashtag “#Icebucketchallenge” was mentioned 1.55 million times on Twitter, according to Twitter data.
ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. A person with the disease gradually loses muscle control and, eventually succumbing to the condition, becomes paralyzed and dies. It is more commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” because it was not until the famous baseball player became afflicted with the disease that the illness became well known.

Many public figures, from Justin Timberlake and Tom Cruise to former President George Bush, have poured a bucket of ice water over their heads and challenged others either do the same or make a donation to fight ALS within 24 hours. Since July 29, ALS has raised more than $4 million in donation, compared to $1.12 million during the same time last year. “We have never seen anything like this in the history of the disease,” said Barbara Newhouse, President and CEO of The ALS Association. Nearly 150,000 new donors have given to the cause.