By Jessica Esquibel
Courier Staff Writer
If you haven’t already heard of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (I’m sure you have), then I’ll explain. The Ice Bucket Challenge is a simple dare of pouring water, specifically including ice and dumping it over your head. Before doing it you nominate three (or more) people to do exactly the same thing, and they have twenty four hours to follow. If they fail to meet the 24 hour deadline, then they must donate 100 dollars to the charity that funds for research. Seems simple and easy enough, right? Yes, and that’s one reason why people do it.
What does ALS stand for? Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. It’s a disease that affects the nerve cells and spinal cord which from there could travel throughout the rest of the body leaving people paralyzed. It was hard to research and come up with a cure when money was an issue. That was until The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge! It has raised over 15.6 million dollars so far! The numbers are climbing as you read this.
So how did it go viral? Sure, things travel quickly through the internet but what really boosted this challenge is all of the celebrities participating. People like Oprah, Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, and Channing Tatum have done it. It’s a cycle that continues for such a good cause. Hopefully, one day someone can find a cure to this disease and start using ice to cool their drinks again.