Ice Bucket Challenge

2014

Date: July-August 2014 · Place: Sarasota, Florida; Boston, Massachusetts · Figures: Pete Frates, former Boston College baseball captain · Pat Quinn, ALS patient · Chris Kennedy, golfer who first tied the dare to ALS · Tags: Challenge, Charity, VideoReply 01. From Cold-Water Dare to ALS Cold-water dunk dares circulate on Facebook through spring 2014 as a generic generic challenge. On 15 July 2014 Florida golfer Chris Kennedy dunks himself, tags ALS, and nominates his cousin in Pelham, New York, whose husband has the disease. The chain reaches Pat Quinn in Yonkers, then Pete Frates in Beverly, Massachusetts, the former Boston College baseball captain diagnosed in 2012. Frates's nomination on 31 July 2014 lands the format in the BC athletic network. Within ten days celebrities, politicians, and CEOs are filming themselves under buckets and nominating three more. 02. 115 Million Dollars The ALS Association reports 115 million dollars raised between 29 July and 1 September 2014, against 2.8 million in the same period a year prior. Funds underwrite the discovery of the NEK1 gene as an ALS contributor in 2016. The challenge becomes the canonical case study for any cause that wants viral fundraising. Almost none of the imitators replicate the result. Frates dies 9 December 2019; Quinn dies 22 November 2020. Sources • ALS Association, 'Ice Bucket Challenge Dramatically Accelerated the Fight Against ALS', 28 July 2017 • ESPN, 'Pete Frates and the Ice Bucket Challenge', 9 December 2019 • KnowYourMeme entry, 'ALS Ice Bucket Challenge'