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

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  • jasonmh630
    jasonmh630 Posts: 2,850 Member
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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.
  • NoXCuses4me
    NoXCuses4me Posts: 43
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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: 22,841 Member
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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.
  • pleasurelittletreasure
    pleasurelittletreasure Posts: 236 Member
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    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
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    Wait... I donated a bucket of ice to the ALS foundation. Are you all saying I did it wrong?

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