RAISE MONEY, NOT YOUR WATER BILL--save the ICE!

Again it's been a while, but I find myself bored at work wondering what to write about and then it dawns on my it's usually something I'm annoyed by.  So this week it has been the ALS ice bucket challenge. FUNDRAISERS are about AWARENESS and EDUCATION-- and this ICE BUCKET challenge has hopefully done the first one, you can't get on Facebook without seeing this, but are people being educated about the disease and why this challenge is being done??

 Don't get my wrong I love raising money for charity and am usually doing my fair share, love a good fundraiser and love to get dressed up for an event, love to do silly things carnivals or dress up in costumes, love to mingle with the people you are trying to help and having a good old time while helping others, but this is getting out of hand.  I love seeing people over and over again getting soaked with freezing cold water, but how many of you are actually donating or contributing to the cause or aware of what/who you are even helping. Are you helping?  I would love to see more people post about giving and NOT POST (for all your friends to see how you can accept a challenge and dump ice) just GIVE, give money, give support, give time to any organization.  I would challenge my friends to resist the urge spend on money on a bag of ice, or spend time on organizing someone to film the video or time to get prepared to record this video to show how much you care and support ALS.  Do you even know what ALS is?  Have you ever met anyone with ALS or someone that has a family member with ALS???  You are a prisoner in your own body, imagine, not being able to pick up your iPhone and scroll through Facebook and look at your friends photos, pic's of your grandkids, imagine not being able to grab that six pack and head out to the dock/boat and cruise around with your friends, imagine not being able to dress yourself, feed yourself or use the BATHROOM!!!!  AHHH can you imagine having to have help every time you went to the bathroom, I'm just saying I drink a lot of water and have to go A LOT, so there better be someone out there that really loves me and could help me do this, all the time.  And your mind is completely there, your cognitive abilities are untouched, you are still that famous baseball player, that mother of 4, that doctor, that actor, that senator, that main caregiver for your family, that main provider and so on who now can do nothing but watch.  I mean I have a hard enough time being quiet for 2 hours in a movie theater or for argument's sake quiet for any amount of time, I can't imagine just have to be there and sit silently as live evolves and changes around you??????

I went with my roommate the other night to dinner at a place that was donating 10% of proceeds to ALS and there were lots of people there helping raise awareness and money and some were doing the ice bucket challenge, some were family members, some were people who currently had ALS.  It was fun to watch these people in their business clothes after work just get soaked for a good cause and right there on the spot challenge someone else and some guy with a bow tie would just walk up and dump the ice on himself and then challenge the bartender and so on.  It was a really neat experience, but the best part was this little old man that came up to us and asked if we knew about ALS and were we there for the fundraiser.  He proceeded to tell us he had recently lost his wife to ALS and for the last 2 years of her life he did everything for her, he dressed her, he fed her, he changed her (yes as in her diaper) and they have 3 beautiful kids together and they were all on their way up there to do the ice bucket challenge.  He seemed so excited to be there and share information about the disease and his family, even pulled up a family pic on his phone from a few months before his wife passed away. He explained how he was holding her head up in the pic behind the wheeler chair so that she would look normal and they would have a nice family picture together before she passed because they had no idea how long that might be.  He then told us the form of ALS that his wife had was the genetic kind, which means any of his 3 kids could have it.   And yes they can get tested to find out if they carry the gene, but there is no cure, there is no slowing it down, right now there is only research and HOPE!!!!

That's where things like these events and the Ice bucket challenge come into play, again AWARENESS and EDUCATION.  So really think about why you are doing this challenge, who you are helping and make sure not only to post the video and challenge people, but also donate, maybe challenge more of your friends to donate than to actually do the ice bucket challenge or do both!!!  If your heart beats strongly for another charity, give to them, it doesn't matter who ultimately is getting the help, just as long as someone is beside you looking cool to your friends on Facebook.  Get the information out there.  Just think lots of people were dying of AIDS and HIV in the early 80's and now it's basically cured, you can live long happy lives with a disease that people had little hope for just about 30 years ago.  So get the message out there do your part and spread the word and help everyone fight these disease and FIND A CURE!

Go donate to your local Raleigh Jim "Catfish" Hunter Chapter of ALS--
http://webnc.alsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=NC_homepage

If you like Golf more than ICE buckets--sign up for the Golf Tournament

November 10, 2014
North Ridge Country Club
Raleigh, NC