Groups Push ALS Activists to Look Past Ice Bucket Challenge
The #IceBucketChallenge, that most ubiquitous of social media stunts, has not only captured the imagination of sitting politicos , parched celebrities and well meaning, but newly hospitalized philanthropists the world over, it’s got advocates thinking about how to tap into this seemingly limitless font of goodwill.
The ranks of those who have chosen to take a stand against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the neurodegenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, continues to grow by the second.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, got double doused — first by his wife, and then by his daughters.
House hopeful Debbie Dingell, who is vying to replace her husband, retiring Democrat John D. Dingell, in Michigan’s 12 district, rallied to the cause earlier this week.
And your faithful HOH reporter recently witnessed an improvised attempt at a local fun park featuring one creative woman, a cup of strategically tossed ice and a cascade of stinging H2O delivered from a 1,000-gallon dumping bucket.
Sadly, the battery in my phone had died, so there’s no NSFW video of the hi-larious outcome to share. (Oh, the flood of profanity that spewed from her lips.)
Tapping into this cultural zeitgeist appears to be on everyone’s to-do list.
Matthew Segal, co-founder of OurTime.org , sees this as an opportunity to move newly concerned individuals from ersatz dunk tanks into voting booths this fall.
“So what should celebrities, billionaires, and your Facebook friends really start banding together around? Voting out politicians who cut funding for medical research,” Segal suggested via his Huffington Post stream.
Project A.L.S., a nonprofit group co-founded by the late Jenifer Estess some 16 years ago, is hoping to redirect a portion of the staggering flow of contributions Pete Estes has uncorked towards its own research-intensive mission .
“Project A.L.S. identifies and funds the most promising, rational, and aggressive research strategies among collaborators at Harvard, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Memorial Sloan Kettering, New York University, and The Salk Institute, among others,” the group shared in an email touting its involvement with the medical community.
