Unless you’ve been living in a monastery high up in the mountains for the past month with no access to the Internet (how uncivilized of you), you’ve undoubtedly seen – or at least heard about – the latest Internet and social media craze: The Ice Bucket Challenge.
For those of you who don’t know, the Ice Bucket Challenge involves a “nominated” individual to dump a bucket of ice cold water over his or her head within a certain time period of being nominated. The nominated individual then nominates three others to undertake the challenge. As an alternative to taking a cold bath, the individual can choose to donate $100 to help fight ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). The goal of the challenge is to help raise awareness of the disease in support the ALS Association.
Challenge videos continue to sweep through the NHL, with some players posting videos of themselves dumping water over their heads in their back yards, or at center ice of their home team. But former Phoenix Coyotes forward Paul Bissonnette, who was nominated by former teammate Kieth Yandle, took the concept of a challenge video to an entirely new level earlier this week when he had ice cold glacial water dumped onto him from a hovering helicopter while he stood on top of a mountain in nothing but a speedo bathing suite and his ice skates.
Bissonnette’s YouTube video has been watched more than 1 million times. And, while the stunt looks incredibly expensive and Bissonnette has had some backlash about how he could have allocated those funds in the form of donations to the ALS Association, it turns out that Bissonnette and some friends did the challenge for a mere $175. He told TMZ Sports that the idea came about while drinking with some friends in a Vancouver bar. One of his friends just happens to own a chopper and some camera gear. All Bissonnette had to pay for was the gas to fuel the helicopter.
He and his friends also donated $1,000 to the cause.
Since July 29, the Ice Bucket Challenge has helped the national ALS Association raise more than $2.3 million. The difference is staggering compared to the $25,000 raised by the foundation during the same time period last year. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. For more information, or to donate, visit www.als.org.
