August 18, 2014

How to Complete the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge



I would be shocked if you have not seen a few of your buddies dumping buckets of ice over their heads in the name of ALS awareness. According to the ALS Association, ALS aka Lou Gehrig's Disease, is a "progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord." For people with ALS, the progressive degeneration of the motor neurons leads to a lack of ability to control voluntary muscle movements and is considered to be a fast moving and fatal disease. 

For months, I have been following the powerful story of Steve and Hope Dezember through their Facebook page. Steve was diagnosed in 2011 and alongside his wife, they have brought an amazing amount of awareness to ALS and the need for funding. This week, the "Hope for Steve" crew urged their FB fans to join in on the ice bucket challenge... but added a twist! Why not keep the ice in the freezer? Spreading awareness is greatly appreciated, but Hope reminded us to reach for our wallets after we warm up from the ice bath or just skip the ice all together!

I am thrilled that social media is buzzing with these challenges and hilarious videos! In order to make a difference for those living with ALS, you will need to know these "guidelines" in order to help the viral video challenge have the impact is deserves.

THE BASIC ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE

Once nominated, get a bucket of ice, a video camera and you'll probably want a towel!

Before you actually dump the ice water over your head, be sure to say something along these lines, "Hello! My name is _______ and I was challenged to complete the "Strike Out ALS  Ice Bucket Challenge" by ________. I accept their challenge and would like to spread the awareness further by nominating _______, _______ and _______. You have 24 hours to complete this challenge or make a donation to benefit ALS."

Now get chilly! You can either dump the water on yourself or have someone else do it!

The most important part of this is to donate. Even if you complete the ice bucket part, be sure to make a donation of any size to fund ALS research.

THE "KEEP IT IN THE FREEZER" CHALLENGE

Grab your wallet and a video camera.

"Hello! My name is _______ and I was challenged to complete the "Strike Out ALS  Keep it in the Freezer Challenge" by ________. I accept their challenge and would further my impact by nominating _______, _______ and _______. You are not restricted to a time frame. All you have to do is make a donation to benefit ALS."

Final step- donate!

________

As one of my buddies suggested, there is nothing set in stone. If you can't afford to donate $100, feel free to change it up by challenging more friends! Donating any amount does make a difference. The ALS community is thrilled that you are participating in order to help end the suffering caused by ALS.

Here are a few places you can go to donate:

Click here to donate to donate directly to the ALS Association.

Click here to donate directly to the Project ALS.

Click here to donate to "DRIVE"- an incredible project from Steve and Hope December, ALS activists.


If you have not been challenged, go ahead and make a donation and challenge somebody to the "Keep it in the Freezer" Challenge!

Make a difference!

Have you been challenged?

40 comments:

  1. This is definitely a fun way to raise awareness and I hope people are actually making their donations to this important cause.

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  2. This sounds like a fabulous campaign. I hadn't heard of it before. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. This challenge has really taken off. It's great to see so much money being raised to fight ALS.

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  4. I have seen many of these on Facebook already but haven't been nominated. It's fun to see many guys doing it. Seems like I had only seen women creating awareness in the past.

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  5. I understand this is for charity, but I really don't want to dump ice and water on my head. However, I commend those who do.

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  6. This is great! I have always wondered how this was doing to raise both awareness and funds for ALS - it's good to get the word out on just how to go about completing the challenge.

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  7. This could not be more timely! The torch was passed to us just last night, and I needed some guidelines. Thank you!

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  8. My Facebook feed has been FILLED with people doing this. I think most people put the instructions in their videos, right? This clears it all up, though, because a lot of people forget all the rules.

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  9. Ohh! I saw my cousin posting a video of herself doing this on Instagram. I had no idea what it was for! What a great idea.

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  10. These challenges are spreading like wildfire. All for great causes and I love it! Most of my family ended up being challenges in the cold water challenge and I see even more for this one!

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  11. Thanks for this! I was just challenged by two different people yesterday.

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  12. I love how much money has been donated already. I hope that every charity has its viral moment!

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  13. What a great cause and it is so great to see so many participating. Thank you for the instructions too!

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  14. So many people have been doing this! I'm glad when I see people that take the challenge AND do some sort of donation.

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  15. I love how social media has been really helping this cause go viral. I see a lot of my friends posting ALS awareness videos online! Hopefully it will also help raise funds for the cause.

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  16. This is really fun! Thanks for easily spelling it all out, now we can all do it!

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  17. I love that you share the details because everyone is doing it and not donating!

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  18. Great post! I love that you provided a better detailed understanding of it. I'm hoping those that fulfill the challenge and donate BUT if not.. at least they are getting the name of the cause out there.

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  19. Amy @ Marvelous MommyAugust 19, 2014 at 12:46 PM

    I've seen the ice bucket challenge all over Facebook. I love that they are raising awareness for those suffering from ALS.

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  20. A lot of people are forgetting the important part of it, the actual donating! Amber Nelson

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  21. My son wants to do this so I nominated him and made a donation it's pretty awesome challenge.

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  22. An incredible way to raise awareness and an incredible way for the foundation to raise money.

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  23. Thanks for sharing the basics! Did you see the Ice Bucket Fails on Buzzfeed? I had to laugh. Be careful when dumping yourself in cold water! ;)

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  24. I haven't done this challenge yet. Love the concept though. It's brilliant.

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  25. I saw a blogger's whole family doing it. Now I know why. Very cool!

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  26. Oh yes i have seen this in my news feed on Facebook! It is EVERYWHERE! So glad that this is getting so much attention!

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  27. I saw quite a few people do this on my Facebook news feed. I haven't done the challenge yet but I have been lucky enough to dump the ice cold water on someone! :-)

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  28. TouristmeetstravelerAugust 19, 2014 at 6:19 PM

    I've been seeing tons of videos of people doing this challenge, it's really giving the organization a name letting it be more well known.

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  29. Love the post. As i have been watchign these funny videos on FB I could hlep but wodner if I was missing something. I thought I heard someone write or say that you do the challenge or donate. I am sure I heard it wrong after reading your post. I kept wodnering...How are these ice bucket challenges going to help if people keep doing it without donating. Love that you helped me udnerstand it a little better.

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  30. I haven't been nominated for the ice bucket challenge, but I'm sure I will be soon enough. It's a great cause, so I'll do it.

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  31. This is a great cause, but I hope I never have to do it! So cold...

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  32. I have been seeing tons of these challenges on Facebook. I hear that it has raised a lot of money for ALS already.

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  33. I think I would donate before I would dump the ice cold water. So for October Breast Cancer Awareness, do we need to put on frozen bras? :)

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  34. While I love that it's for a great cause I'm not sure I would want a bucket of ice water dumped on me so will rather reach into my wallet and donate instead. :)

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  35. I definitely think it's more beneficial to ALS to donate money. I see all these people doing the ice bucket challenge just to get out of donating, but I think they should try to donate something, even if it's like $5.

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  36. This is great, I have been thinking of doing this, and this post is super helpful.

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  37. I am all for donating. I have contemplated telling my friends not to nominate me. It's not happening! LOL!

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  38. I have been seeing the ice bucket challenge all over social media. It seems like it is raising awareness and money in a fun way.

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  39. No challenge here yet, but I appreciate all of the awareness for an important cause! I hope the donations are higher than the dumps

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  40. This is actually a great idea! I have seen so many completing it that I would love to know how much has been raised!

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