Our View: ALS Ice Bucket Challenge gone viral

BY EDITORIAL BOARD

Videos from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge have been blowing up our Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram feeds like nothing we’ve ever seen. From former President George W. Bush to WWE wrestler Triple H to Utah State administrators, we’ve seen them all, and we think this phenomenon is great for a few reasons.

Although it’s easy to be annoyed when post after post consists of the same thing, we feel that the cause behind this trend has not been lost in translation. A press release from the ALS Association stated yesterday that the organization has received more than $94.3 million in the last month, which is incredible when compared to the $2.7 million it received in the same time period last year.

As we understand it, the ice bucket challenge states that those who are challenged must either donate to charity or pour a bucket of ice water on themselves, fully-dressed, within 24 hours. We hope all those who are posting videos are donating even though they aren’t required to because if they’re not, they’re basically telling the world, “I’d rather pour a bucket of ice water over my head than donate to charity.”

We hope that trends like this continue, and that as a university, we can initiate similar trends. Here at USU every year we have fundraisers through service clubs and organizations that give students an opportunity to donate to charities like the American Cancer Society and CAPSA. What we do as a student body can be the undercurrent of a wave that sweeps the nation. We hope you remember that throughout the year, even after the ice bucket trend is over.