Tatum Tricarico
The ALS ice bucket challenge has made a splash at and around MC lately. Students here at MC are both donating money and dumping ice water on themselves. Kids and adults everywhere are doing this and raising large amounts of money for people who suffer from ALS.
This challenge has raised over $80 million so far for ALS and that profit is quickly rising.
ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a muscle disease that makes it really hard to speak, breathe and swallow and it can lead to death. In the US alone 5,600 people are diagnosed with it each year.
This is obviously a very big issue in America with the amount of people with ALS always rising. The ice bucket challenge is a great way to raise funds to help find a cure.
Finding a cure to this disease is very important and the ice bucket challenge is a fun and creative way to get the money necessary to help.
The idea to either drench or donate is very good because it compels a lot of people to give the money because they don’t want to get wet. A lot of people obviously don’t want to dump the water on themselves, so that means that they have to donate. That pressure to donate is leading many people to donate when they would have not before.
People nominating each other creates pressure to donate as well as to nominate someone else. This idea allows many people to be involved in helping those with ALS.
It goes without saying that the more people who are involved, the more people who know about the disease.
This challenge had resulted in many people who otherwise would have no knowledge of the disease. Because of this, the awareness of ALS is higher than ever.
That is extremely important because if a cure is going to be found the general population has to be educated on what the disease is and the ALS foundation needs enough money to do tests and experiments.
With all the people participating we are quickly getting close enough to reach the end goal, a world where ALS is curable and hardly if ever present.
Overall, the ice bucket challenge is quickly raising money and awareness of ALS and helping tremendously to Make life a lot easier for all who mare diagnosed with the disease. The ice bucket challenge is a great and fun way to bring a must needed change into America.
