The videos of celebrities, athletes, journalists, and average Americans taking the Ice Bucket Challenge are everywhere. They’ve been taking over Facebook news feeds, Twitter timelines, and TV segments for weeks now. And while the videos of people dumping buckets of ice cold water on their heads might be starting to annoy people, they’re working.
As of this morning, donations to the ALS Association, a non-profit organization that raises money for research and patient services and promotes awareness on issues related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), had reached more than $50 million.
A press release from the organization said, “The ALS Association has received $533 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.”
ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is
“…a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.”
While you might be growing increasingly tired of the videos seemingly following you everywhere, remember the good that is coming from them. They have raised ALS awareness to millions of people and raised millions of dollars in the process.
Watch a compilation of Ice Bucket Challenge videos.
