The ALS Ice Bucket
Challenge is the latest internet craze . It’s a funny and, so far,
very effective means of raising money to combat ALS (Amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” which is defined as a
progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and
the spinal cord.
When you accept the Ice Bucket Challenge you have to pour
a bucket of ice water on your head and then challenge 3 others to do the same
within 24 hours or make a donation to fight ALS, or both.
Well-known names from Lionel Messi and Lady Gaga to Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have taken the plunge.
But how did the ALS Ice Bucket actually
start?
The
Wall Street Journal reported that Chris Kennedy, a golfer in Sarasota, Fla.,
was nominated by a friend to participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge, which at
the time, had nothing to do with ALS. The campaign was not tied to any specific
charity, and participants had to select a charity of their choice for
donations.
Kennedy,
passing the challenge along, selected ALS because a relative is suffering from
the disease. Kennedy nominated his wife’s cousin Jeanette Senerchia, whose
husband Anthony is the one suffering from ALS. Kennedy posted this video on
July 15—what appears to be the first instance in which the Ice Bucket Challenge
and ALS were linked.
Senerchia accepted the challenge and posted
the video on her Facebook page on July 16, nominating more people. In the beginning,
they used the hashtags #takingiceforantsenerchiajr and #StrikeOutALS to support
a newly-formed non profit and baseball tournament to honor Anthony.
Senerchia
and Anthony’s town of Pelham, N.Y., is small and the challenge started to
spread like wildfire among everyone including their families and even high
school friends. Soon, they couldn’t keep track of the number of videos.
Eventually,
their social network connected with Pete Frates in Boston, who has an
especially large network of supporters.
Frates posted his own video on Facebook on July 31, using both the
hashtags #StrikeOutALS and #Quinnforthewin—and that’s when the campaign really
went viral.
The
ALS Association says it started seeing an unexplained uptick in donations on
July 29, and on Aug. 4, it was clear something was really taking off. The
organization said Monday that it’s received more than $15 million from existing
donors and 307,598 new donors.
“What started out as a small gesture to put a
smile on Anthony’s face and bring some awareness to this terrible disease has
turned into a national phenomenon and it is something we never could have
dreamed of,” Kennedy said.
