In the past few weeks, your Facebook feed was probably littered with videos of friends getting doused with ice water to help spread awareness of and funds for curing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The idea is to dump a bucket of a ice water on your head while capturing the moment on video. Meanwhile, you challenge three friends to follow suit within 24 hours. If the nominated people don't accept the challenge, they donate $100 to ALS.
The Ice Bucket Challenge was originally introduced to raise money for the challenger's charity of choice. Yet the movement movement really caught fire for ALS because of a man named Pete Frates. In 2007, Pete Frates was a Division 1 college athlete, the center fielder and captain of Boston College's baseball team. But in 2012, he was diagnosed with ALS. He was 27.
Frates continues to struggle with ALS. He is unable to speak or walk on his own. But he's also made it his life's mission to raise awareness of the disease. To that end, his friends introduced him to the Ice Bucket Challenge. On July 31st, he posted a video on Facebook asking others to do the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS.
Frates' plea spread like wildfire. 2.4 million videos related to the ice bucket challenge have been shared on Facebook. At last count, Facebook reports that more than 28 million people have joined the conversation about the ice bucket challenge -- be it posting, commenting, or liking a challenge post. And since July 29, the ALS Association and its chapters have reported that they've received an estimated $13.3 million in donations since July 29. The challenge has now reached nearly every country in the world.
Of course, loads of celebrities have gotten in on the act, from Oprah Winfrey to Bill Gates to Taylor Swift to Jennifer Lopez. Click on this Parade story to see which celebrities have accepted the Ice Bucket Challenge.