Skip to content

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Share this Post:

This summer, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge created a sensation on the Internet and social media. The ALS Association, which works to spread awareness of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a.k.a. Lou Gehrig’s disease, and raise funds for research in hopes of reducing its impact, perhaps even finding a cure, launched the campaign. By late August, the association noted that total donations had topped the $100 million mark.

A Worthy Cause

ALS is a progressive neuro-degenerative disease that leads to paralysis and death.  In mid-July, Internet videos began showing up showing people dumping a bucket of ice water over their heads while challenging friends and co-workers to do the same.  The idea was not new, but ALS Association adopted it and it proved to be a phenomenally successful way of bringing awareness to the disease and the association, all while bringing in much needed funds to continue their work to fight and understand the disease. The added bonus, of course, is watching the reactions of people as they have ice cold water dumped over their heads.

How it Works

The way it works is that, if someone is challenged, they have a limited time — usually just 24 hours — to respond with their own video challenge, along with a donation of $10 to the ALS Association.  Those who would rather not subject themselves to ice-cold water and the humiliation of having their reactions broadcast around the world can decline the challenge, but they are then requested to donate $100.  The person who accepts the challenge and agrees to issue their own Ice Bucket Challenge to others then has the opportunity to challenge as many people or companies as they like.  Typically two or three people or companies are challenged at a time.  And so the challenge grows, along with awareness of the ALS Association and contributions aiming to fight the disease.

In mid-summer, the challenges began to appear in our industry, with individuals and whole companies taking part. I was challenged by Elation’s John Dunn.  Of course, with the summer being a busy time for most,  including myself, 24 hours wasn’t enough time for me — it ended up taking more than a week for me to put my video together. Because I missed the 24-hour window, I donated $100 dollars to the cause.

As you’ll see from my Editor’s Note Video, it was worth the wait. After getting dumped on, I challenged industry leaders including Richard Belliveau from High End Systems, Fred Foster from ETC and Dr. DMX, Doug Fleenor.  As of this writing, Mr. Foster and Dr. DMX have yet to accept the challenge.  (Fleenor has donated, however, and says that he needs additional time to develop an appropriate DMX controlled dumping device.)

From the sidebar, you’ll see some of the other industry professionals out there who have accepted the challenge to raise awareness for ALS.  There are plenty more challenges around the Internet, it just takes a simple keyword search of #IceBucketChallenge to find them.  (If you are looking for a laugh and have some time, be sure to search for “Ice Bucket Challenge Fails.”)

ALS Ice Bucket Participants include (so far)…


Related Posts

You Can’t Do It Alone

Mental Health Support

Preparing for Fall