Unless you have been living under a rock for the last six weeks, without any connection to social media, the news, and constant conversation, then chances are you have heard of the number shattering, awareness-raising, and groundbreaking phenomena taking over the country called the “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge”. Its purpose lies in raising awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the lethal neurodegenerative disorder commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which has affected Boston College’s community greatly through the late Dick Kelley, BC’s assistant athletics director for media relations and most recently through Pete Frates, an alumnus and former captain of the BC baseball team. It is simply incredible how through a simple hashtag, #IceBucketChallenge, awareness of this terrible disease, a desire to learn more, and a passion to give back have taken over the country, all stemming from the BC campus.
As of Thursday, August 21, the ALS Association had received $41.8 million in donations. Compare that to the same time period (July 29 to August 21) a year ago, when only $2.1 million had been raised. Putting that in perspective, that’s approximately an 1890% increase! Those numbers alone are hard to argue for those who criticize that the Ice Bucket Challenge is just a “social bandwagon” trend that we all feel obligated to join. In fact, even those who decide to douse themselves in ice-cold water but choose not to donate are still excellent publicity ambassadors. Although some participants are perhaps not going in depth about the technicalities of the disease and say overall little about it other than the name “ALS”, they are still showing, through their participation, that this is a cause and a disease worth paying attention to and supporting.
Derek Jeter, George W. Bush, Justin Timberlake, Bill Gates, Oprah, and countless other celebrities (seriously, the list goes on and on) have jumped onto the Ice Bucket Challenge bandwagon and have not only significantly increased awareness of ALS, but donation funds as well. Ask anyone working in the advertising field: celebrities’ endorsement sells products. For the ALS Ice Bucket challenge, the cause is the “product” they’re selling but the idea is similar: raising support and awareness through social media and celebrities.
In a media landscape where bad news seems to overshadow good news more each day, isn’t it time for something refreshing, inspiring, and certainly most importantly, for a very good cause? Seeing celebrities, athletes, friends, and family doing something as trivial as dump a bucket of cold water on their heads for something as important and relevant as ALS is a change in the right direction. Instead of arguing about things that separate us and divide us more as a country, we instead need to find common ground and common positivity. The Ice Bucket Challenge does this for us: it provides a cause to rally around, common ground to reflect upon, and an optimistic hope for the future to hold onto.
I cannot stress enough how we, as Boston College students, should set an example for our Facebook friends, our fellow Tweeters, our Instagram followers, and the greater global community in both participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge but also in donating. Instead of looking as dumping ice water on ourselves as a punishment for not donating, we should look at it as a symbolic, physical representation that we donated. Is there anything more supportive than that? Donation plus dousing.
It is a special time for us at Boston College as the spotlight is on a disease that has hit us so close to home. We must step up and continue to shed awareness about ALS, even after the Ice Bucket Challenge begins to melt and the country has moved on to the next big movement. We must remain strong in our faith in the ALS Association, in Dick Kelley, in Pete Frates, and in the hopeful cure for this terrible disease in the very near future. For the nearly 30,000 Americans suffering from ALS, this disease does not disappear from their bodies once the Ice Bucket Challenge loses its popularity and pizzazz. Even after the last drops of water fall from the buckets and the donations come in fewer and fewer waves, thousands will still be suffering. As members of the Boston College community and members of the global community, we must continue to support and raise awareness in the hopes of eliminating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis for the rest of time.
For those interested in learning more about ALS or in donating, please visit http://petefrates.com and http://www.alsa.org.
Sources:
http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-082114.html
http://www.alsa.org/news/media/quick-facts.html
http://northeastohioparent.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ALS-Ice-Bucket-Challenge.jpg