![\"Brother](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Screenshot-2015-03-05-13.51.44.png\")
<\/a>Brother Bob – In full Ice Bucket Challenge Regalia<\/p><\/div>\n
Last August the world was taken captive by seemingly reasonable<\/strong> people everywhere dumping buckets of ice over their heads. \u00a0The cause, of course, was the “Ice Bucket Challenge”<\/strong>, a\u00a0fund-raising effort for ALS,\u00a0sometimes referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. \u00a0 The “challenge” was that\u00a0people either dumped a bucket of ice over their heads or donate $100<\/strong> to the ALS Association. \u00a0Once the bucket was overturned the participant then challenged three friends<\/strong> to the task. \u00a0It was impossible to go on any social media account or turn on the TV without seeing someone dumping ice – from former Presidents to Oprah.<\/strong> \u00a0You know<\/em> it’s serious when Oprah does something. \u00a0Not to mention that my brother and co-blogger,<\/strong> Bob, participated in the challenge and coerced his kids to take part as well. I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical<\/strong> of the whole endeavor. \u00a0My feeling is that when something becomes “the<\/strong> thing to do”<\/strong> it generally loses all serious intent. \u00a0Plus, we’ve all read about charity fund-raisers that don’t result in many funds actually going to the charity. \u00a0I figured that it was AUGUST, for Heaven’s sake, so people in most parts of the country were more than happy to bathe themselves in ice. \u00a0I was not one of them.<\/p>\n And then something happened that hit very close to home – the husband of a dear friend was diagnosed<\/strong> with ALS in January. \u00a0It has been devastating to them and to all of us that care about them. \u00a0They are coming to grips<\/strong> with the effects of the disease and learning all they can about it. As it turns out, the ALS Association is a wonderful resource<\/strong>, providing not only guidance and support, but actually supplying wheelchairs and any other equipment that a family needs to accommodate the manifestations of the disease. \u00a0So my friend was telling me the other day that the ALS Association volunteer mentioned that they had been able to purchase a lot of equipment<\/strong> to lend out because of money they got from the “Ice Bucket Challenge”. \u00a0Suddenly, I felt a bit embarrassed that I had not dumped ice on my head. \u00a0So being the nerd that I am, I set off to research whether the Phoenix Chapter of the ALS Association was unusual or whether “the Challenge” had done as much in other areas of the country as well.<\/p>\n As it turns out, those intrepid people at CNBC<\/strong> were thinking the same thing. \u00a0Last month one of their reporters, Meg Tirrell, investigated whether the “Ice Bucket Challenge” had been a social media phenomenon<\/strong> or an effective fund-raiser. \u00a0Turns out, it was both<\/strong>. \u00a0The “Ice Bucket Challenge” actually raised\u00a0$115 million for the ALS Association, compared to their annual budget of $60 million. \u00a0How did they raise that much when so many people chose to dump ice? Because people both dumped and donated<\/strong>. \u00a0Which should help to restore your faith in human kindness this Monday morning. \u00a0And to cheer you up even further, it turns out that Phoenix was not the only area to benefit – it helped ALS Associations all over the country buy equipment, provide respite care programs<\/strong>, and maybe most importantly, it funded four research projects aimed at better understanding , and thus finding a cure, \u00a0for what causes ALS. \u00a0All four projects had been stopped due to a lack of research money.<\/p>\n There is no word yet as to whether the “Ice Bucket Challenge” is going to be an annual event or whether it was just a one-time phenomenon<\/strong>. \u00a0Hopefully it will take place again in August and I can assure you, I will be dumping ice and donating with the best of them. \u00a0And I’m also taking part in the “Defeat ALS”<\/strong> walk in October. \u00a0Family and friends be warned – I’m going to hit you up for some of your hard-earned money <\/strong>when I strap on my walking shoes. \u00a0 And just to add a degree of difficulty to the walk, I’ll dump a bucket of frozen Margaritas over my head as I pass the finish line. \u00a0I think that could catch on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Last August the world was taken captive by seemingly reasonable people everywhere dumping buckets of ice over their heads. \u00a0The cause, of course, was the “Ice Bucket Challenge”, a\u00a0fund-raising effort for ALS,\u00a0sometimes referred to as “Lou … read more<\/a><\/p>\n