Ice Bucket Challenge, Ribbons, Wrist Bands, etc....

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Replies

  • I personally love seeing the awareness that is being raised and that other causes are doing spin off challenges to also raise awareness. Fabulous!! :heart: :heart: :heart:
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    If you're going to donate to a cause, just do it... You don't have to do some silly challenge. A true act of kindness is one where someone doesn't seek recognition.

    You're so right. Everything was working just fine before. How dare people challenge others to donate with some act of ridiculousness. I mean... how dare they be so self-serving as to bring awareness to ALS for a few weeks. Such a-holes.

    But... wait... "The ALS Association said Monday that it has received $15.6 million in donations since July 29. That’s up from $1.8 million raised during the same time period last year." And, "... ALS Assocation said that 307,598 of the donations it has received in recent weeks have come from people who had never given before."

    Interesting, since everything was just fine before.

    No, no. You see. Only $1.8 million of that money was a "true" act of kindness. The rest of it is self-glorification. I'm not sure how the ALS Association can live with themselves knowing that that money isn't coming from the most selfless possible impulse.
  • Alidecker
    Alidecker Posts: 1,262 Member
    I kinda thought the Ice Bucket Challenge was goofy at first, but it is truly working. I got nominated, I had a bucket of ice water poured over my head, and I donated and I nominated others who have done the same. I could have just donated, but then it would have stopped with me. Also, my niece had a blast pouring ice water over my head. I also saw a person living with ALS do the challenge. Her video was amazing and described living with ALS and how she loved that it was raising awareness and hopefully raising money to move closer to a cure.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    If you're going to donate to a cause, just do it... You don't have to do some silly challenge. A true act of kindness is one where someone doesn't seek recognition.

    But, you might be missing the point. The point is that the challenge is bringing tons of awareness to the disease. Social media is very powerful.

    Brilliant!!!
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
    Jerk-GIF.gif



    *stomps off*
  • MsBetteDavis
    MsBetteDavis Posts: 118 Member
    Watch this commercial -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Q4kIx95aU

    Now tell me how much you hate that people are donating to find a cure for ALS.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    It's slactivism. It makes people feel like they're doing something good for the world and they're really not. I can understand buying things that contribute directly to an organization that you would like to support, I have several HRC stickers on the back of my car right now. But the ice bucket challenge seems like a cop-out. I respect the fact that it brings awareness to the issue, but I think it should be coupled with a donation to the charity not just doing the "challenge."
    I'm sure someone already answered this, but it is supposed to be coupled with a donation. And it's raised a lot of money along with pushing it to the forefront of people's thoughts.

    ALS is a HORRIBLE disease. Horrible. Your mind works. You are aware of everything. You can still function mentally as you always did. But you can't move or speak or anything. It's the opposite of Alzheimer's. If a few people pouring ice water over their heads and donating a few dollars helps even a little -- even if it's only the morale of the disease's victims -- I'm thrilled it's happening.

    Don't like it? Don't participate or watch others do it. Easy.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Also, this man's opinion means more to me than anyone in this thread on this subject:

    http://www.bostern.com/blog/2014/08/15/what-an-als-family-really-thinks-about-the-ice-bucket-challenge/
  • dfurton83
    dfurton83 Posts: 36 Member
    If you're going to donate to a cause, just do it... You don't have to do some silly challenge. A true act of kindness is one where someone doesn't seek recognition.

    But, you might be missing the point. The point is that the challenge is bringing tons of awareness to the disease. Social media is very powerful.

    I agree, the whole point is awareness. Do you know how many people don't even know what ALS is or what it does to your body?

    I wear awareness ribbons EVERY single day, I had them tattooed on me. I have an awareness ribbon for Non Hodgkins Lymphoma for my boyfriend and one for Colon cancer for both my maternal grandparents. I didn't realize until 5 years ago how many people only knew the pink ribbon for breast cancer, now when people see my lime green ribbon they ask what it is for, many people don't even know what Lymphoma or Non Hodgkins Lymphoma is.

    Some may be getting tired of seeing people dumping buckets of ice water on themselves but it is for a good cause especially if people who are challenged donate as well as do the challenge.

    Awareness is one step closer to a cure!!
  • WeepingAngel81
    WeepingAngel81 Posts: 2,232 Member
    If you feel emotionally hijacked by the way someone else deals with health issues, then that's on you. I have an aunt who is dying. She is on her last days and if I want to run in a pink shirt to help raise funds for breast cancer, then so be it. Only a fraction of the funds I pay in for that 5k fun run may go to research, but it's not just about that. It's about the way I want to support and remember her.

    There is comfort in being around others who know what you are going through when it comes to losing a loved one. If people find joy in dumping ice buckets, wearing ribbons, or doing fun runs, who are you to take that from them? If that isn't how you deal with it, that's ok. Just don't put down the way anyone else grieves or fights for awareness.
  • jasonmh630
    jasonmh630 Posts: 2,850 Member
    Wow... Seems like I've started a sh*tstorm without even meaning to. I guess I should have clarified my stance. My original post was not geared toward ALS as a whole or the challenge to raise awareness, but as a general statement about donations. I think the awareness is fantastic and if the challenge thing is working by raising more money, then great. I have no problem with it and I think that awareness is exactly what needs to happen. I apologize if it sounded like a *kitten* statement to make. That wasn't the intention.
  • whovian67
    whovian67 Posts: 608 Member
    If you're going to donate to a cause, just do it... You don't have to do some silly challenge. A true act of kindness is one where someone doesn't seek recognition.

    But, you might be missing the point. The point is that the challenge is bringing tons of awareness to the disease. Social media is very powerful.

    I agree, the whole point is awareness. Do you know how many people don't even know what ALS is or what it does to your body?

    I wear awareness ribbons EVERY single day, I had them tattooed on me. I have an awareness ribbon for Non Hodgkins Lymphoma for my boyfriend and one for Colon cancer for both my maternal grandparents. I didn't realize until 5 years ago how many people only knew the pink ribbon for breast cancer, now when people see my lime green ribbon they ask what it is for, many people don't even know what Lymphoma or Non Hodgkins Lymphoma is.

    Some may be getting tired of seeing people dumping buckets of ice water on themselves but it is for a good cause especially if people who are challenged donate as well as do the challenge.

    Awareness is one step closer to a cure!!

    As a clinician, I have been watching patients Die from ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease.

    Before this IceBucket Challenge... few people even knew of this disease, which has been 100% fatal thus far.

    I may get tired of seeing this challenge but my heart is filled with joy that this organization is getting donations that they could have never achieved in YEARS...

    I am sorry if anyone is feeling emotionally "hijacked" by this challenge.

    As adults, most of us have lost someone close to us from one thing or another.. a part of life..for the most part I think this challenge has brought this disease to the forefront... even elementary school children are doing the challenge... how great is that?
  • whovian67
    whovian67 Posts: 608 Member
    P.S. the power of social network is amazing...

    No telethon has done this well that I can remember.. this thing is viral...will die out eventually..
    Telethons are a few hours and then forgotten..(sorry Jerry Lewis & MD)

    How many people had ALS in their vocabulary before this challenge? What do you know about the disease now? Well if you dont know.. the good thing is... scientists can research further to kind a cure.. by the donations that have been made over the last few days.. phenominal
  • jigsawxyouth
    jigsawxyouth Posts: 308 Member
    It's slactivism. It makes people feel like they're doing something good for the world and they're really not. I can understand buying things that contribute directly to an organization that you would like to support, I have several HRC stickers on the back of my car right now. But the ice bucket challenge seems like a cop-out. I respect the fact that it brings awareness to the issue, but I think it should be coupled with a donation to the charity not just doing the "challenge."
    I couldn't agree more... sure, pouring ice water on your head is "raising awareness" (and wasting perfectly fine water when there are others who are not fortunate enough to have clean water, but that's a whole different story) but, uh, how is that DONATING to the initial cause? Can't afford to donate? There is always the opportunity to volunteer.

    It's like that KONY2012 thing all over again. WOW, I WATCHED A VIDEO, THAT TOTALLY CHANGED THE WORLD.

    Want some insight on this sort of thing? Watch the documentary "Pink Ribbon Inc", I will never participate in a -purchase or do this for the cure- thing again)
  • MomTo3Lovez
    MomTo3Lovez Posts: 800 Member
    To those that think that people are doing the ice bucket challenge to get out of donating you're wrong, you do both, the challenge and you donate.

    I think that any type of challenge that brings awareness to any disease is a good thing. You don't like seeing the videos posted well then scroll past without looking at them and then delete them from your friends list since they are doing something that pisses you off...shame on them for spreading awareness and donating to a good cause, remember nobady makes you sit there and watch any of it, you choose to continue to watch it.
  • If you're going to donate to a cause, just do it... You don't have to do some silly challenge. A true act of kindness is one where someone doesn't seek recognition.

    This!
  • MsBetteDavis
    MsBetteDavis Posts: 118 Member
    To those that think that people are doing the ice bucket challenge to get out of donating you're wrong, you do both, the challenge and you donate.

    I think that any type of challenge that brings awareness to any disease is a good thing. You don't like seeing the videos posted well then scroll past without looking at them and then delete them from your friends list since they are doing something that pisses you off...shame on them for spreading awareness and donating to a good cause, remember nobady makes you sit there and watch any of it, you choose to continue to watch it.

    As per my previous posts, I agree with you - but it actually is a "you donate $100.00 or you get ice water dumped on your head." It started as one or the other, I think a lot of people are just choosing to do both, but this is also why you had some people doing it because they thought it was some sort of online fad, and not a campaign to raise both money and awareness.
  • MomTo3Lovez
    MomTo3Lovez Posts: 800 Member
    To those that think that people are doing the ice bucket challenge to get out of donating you're wrong, you do both, the challenge and you donate.

    I think that any type of challenge that brings awareness to any disease is a good thing. You don't like seeing the videos posted well then scroll past without looking at them and then delete them from your friends list since they are doing something that pisses you off...shame on them for spreading awareness and donating to a good cause, remember nobady makes you sit there and watch any of it, you choose to continue to watch it.

    As per my previous posts, I agree with you - but it actually is a "you donate $100.00 or you get ice water dumped on your head." It started as one or the other, I think a lot of people are just choosing to do both, but this is also why you had some people doing it because they thought it was some sort of online fad, and not a campaign to raise both money and awareness.

    I've never seen that one posted where it was one or the other, the ones I have seen were to do the challenge and donate $10 or don't do it and donate $100...glad that someone changed it to doing both donating and the challenge.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    P.S. the power of social network is amazing...

    No telethon has done this well that I can remember.. this thing is viral...will die out eventually..
    Telethons are a few hours and then forgotten..(sorry Jerry Lewis & MD)

    How many people had ALS in their vocabulary before this challenge? What do you know about the disease now? Well if you dont know.. the good thing is... scientists can research further to kind a cure.. by the donations that have been made over the last few days.. phenominal
    I think what I found most surprising about the entire thing was how many people didn't know about ALS before!
  • MsBetteDavis
    MsBetteDavis Posts: 118 Member
    To those that think that people are doing the ice bucket challenge to get out of donating you're wrong, you do both, the challenge and you donate.

    I think that any type of challenge that brings awareness to any disease is a good thing. You don't like seeing the videos posted well then scroll past without looking at them and then delete them from your friends list since they are doing something that pisses you off...shame on them for spreading awareness and donating to a good cause, remember nobady makes you sit there and watch any of it, you choose to continue to watch it.

    As per my previous posts, I agree with you - but it actually is a "you donate $100.00 or you get ice water dumped on your head." It started as one or the other, I think a lot of people are just choosing to do both, but this is also why you had some people doing it because they thought it was some sort of online fad, and not a campaign to raise both money and awareness.

    I've never seen that one posted where it was one or the other, the ones I have seen were to do the challenge and donate $10 or don't do it and donate $100...glad that someone changed it to doing both donating and the challenge.

    Yeah I'm glad it appears to mostly be that people are doing both. But I took this from the alsa.org website - "in the last two weeks, the Ice Bucket Challenge has quite literally “soaked” the nation. Everyone from Ethel Kennedy to Justin Timberlake has poured a bucket of ice water over his or her head and challenged others do the same or make a donation to fight ALS within twenty-four hours."
  • MomTo3Lovez
    MomTo3Lovez Posts: 800 Member
    Ah gotcha, I had heard on the radio this morning that some type of celebrity did the challenge and instead of ice water he had $10,000 come out of the bucket over his head and is donating it all to ALS and challenged his friends (possibly team mates) to do the same which I thought was way cool.


    Edited screwed up the quotes so took them out lol
  • MsBetteDavis
    MsBetteDavis Posts: 118 Member
    Ah gotcha, I had heard on the radio this morning that some type of celebrity did the challenge and instead of ice water he had $10,000 come out of the bucket over his head and is donating it all to ALS and challenged his friends (possibly team mates) to do the same which I thought was way cool.


    Edited screwed up the quotes so took them out lol

    Oh, that sounds awesome. I wish more well off people/celebrities would donate that kind of money.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Ah gotcha, I had heard on the radio this morning that some type of celebrity did the challenge and instead of ice water he had $10,000 come out of the bucket over his head and is donating it all to ALS and challenged his friends (possibly team mates) to do the same which I thought was way cool.


    Edited screwed up the quotes so took them out lol

    Oh, that sounds awesome. I wish more well off people/celebrities would donate that kind of money.
    I know Clinton Kelly didn't do the ice, but he donated $5,000. I think Larry the Cable Guy might have donated a few grand, too. I didn't watch his video all the way through, so I don't know if he did the water. He may be the one who did this.

    Never mind. Larry just dumped a WHOLE LOT of water. I don't know what he donated.
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
    Ah gotcha, I had heard on the radio this morning that some type of celebrity did the challenge and instead of ice water he had $10,000 come out of the bucket over his head and is donating it all to ALS and challenged his friends (possibly team mates) to do the same which I thought was way cool.


    Edited screwed up the quotes so took them out lol

    It was Charlie Sheen. And he challenged three other very wealthy celebs to do the same. So just his efforts alone brought $40,000 in donations to ALS.
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
    It's slactivism. It makes people feel like they're doing something good for the world and they're really not.

    Disagree. Just because everyone does not donate (though most people I know did donate anyway, including me) it is great marketing for an organization. The more eyeballs and hearts you can reach, the more chance there is to raise money.
  • bkthandler
    bkthandler Posts: 247 Member
    I work with not-for-profits and there is a very robust discussion to have around the actual net value of walk-a-thon's etc. Too much time is spent by organizations to make donors feel good about themselves.

    The ice bucket challenge has been a huge boon for awareness for ALS and a "friend-raiser" basically it has expanded the donor base for the organization. I can't imagine ALS isn't wildly happy about this turned out and I am sure dozen's of other organizations are trying to figure out how to replicate it.
  • ComingUntrue
    ComingUntrue Posts: 65 Member
    ALS is usually Lyme Disease and I'm frustrated when good donation money and media hype go toward causes that aren't Lyme -which is effectively being totally ignored. Maybe it's because I'm selfish and want to be recognized by friends, family, doctors, the world. Or maybe I'm tired of watching friends die, commit suicide because there seems to be no hope or help, dealing with pain day in and day out. I can't even begin to describe the hell ....

    Go to YouTube, watch Under Our Skin.

    You'll see many commonly mis-diagnosed conditions in there: ALS, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's, depression and mental health disorders... the list is long.

    It's nice to know that people do care about issues. I just wish the public could begin to understand the severity and complexity of Lyme Disease & co-infections.
  • Timorous_Beastie
    Timorous_Beastie Posts: 595 Member
    I was nominated for the ice bucket challenge. I donated to the ALS website. Videotaping myself squealing and cursing isn't going to help anything, but my donation might help a little.

    A good friend of mine lost her mom to ALS about a year before I lost my mom to a combination of Lupus and Aspergillosis.
  • ALS is usually Lyme Disease and I'm frustrated when good donation money and media hype go toward causes that aren't Lyme -which is effectively being totally ignored. Maybe it's because I'm selfish and want to be recognized by friends, family, doctors, the world. Or maybe I'm tired of watching friends die, commit suicide because there seems to be no hope or help, dealing with pain day in and day out. I can't even begin to describe the hell ....

    Go to YouTube, watch Under Our Skin.

    You'll see many commonly mis-diagnosed conditions in there: ALS, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's, depression and mental health disorders... the list is long.

    It's nice to know that people do care about issues. I just wish the public could begin to understand the severity and complexity of Lyme Disease & co-infections.

    I understand where you're coming from there a bit. As a migraineur, I wish more government resources were put toward finding the cause(s) instead of treating the symptoms. But at the same time I do love watching people pulling together for ANYTHING in this world where so many are disconnected from their neighbor.
  • deluxmary2000
    deluxmary2000 Posts: 981 Member
    Wait... I donated a bucket of ice to the ALS foundation. Are you all saying I did it wrong?