The ALS challenge was made to raise money for the ALS Association, which fights to find a cure for the disease. ALS severely effects the nerve cells of muscles. Most students probably hadn’t even heard of it until the ice bucket challenge.

For the past few weeks, Instagram and Twitter have been filled with students and celebrities pointlessly pouring ice cold water over their heads and commenting those they have  nominated next to do the challenge.

But do we tell  the nominated people what they’re actually doing it for? The ALS challenge is not made just to show off your new cute swimsuit or to get your hair wet.

It’s made to raise money for a disease that is diagnosed to an average of 15 people a day and 5,600 people a year.

We don’t see ALS being talked about on TV or in the news frequently, we only see a couple articles here or there.

But we have to realize that the people living with this disease are slowly paralyzed, eventually causing them to stop breathing.

So we’re not just following the crowd, we are helping to give the people who have to live with this disease a sense of hope.

I know that the challenge is sometimes seen as a fad and something fun to do with your friends. Maybe some people think that it’s earned enough money already, so why give some of mine?

ALS still has no cure, but is being researched  everyday by scientists, so any money you give is always money well spent.

A good alternative would be to do the challenge with a group of friends or teammates. Each person could donate a little money, which would add up to a large donation as a group. This makes the waterfall actually benefit the cause.

We spend our money without a second thought, and in a few months these spontaneous  purchases  won’t even cross our minds.

Donating money to the ALS foundation would be a meaningful way to give money and definitely outweigh these insignificant purchases.

The foundation has raised 22.9 million dollars as of  Tuesday Aug. 19. and has gained 453,210 new donors according to the ALS Association.

Some people say that this online phenomenon is stupid or pointless. They just don’t  understand the damage this disease causes and the thousands of people it affects in the U.S. alone. They also ignore the fact that we’re using ice water for a reason.

“I read that the ALS challenge is supposed to give you the brief  feeling of being paralyzed just like the disease,”junior Destiny Watson said.

She makes a really good point. We may only briefly feel discomfort.

Imagine years of that sensation, eventually becoming fatal. That alone should be reason to give.