The #icebucketchallenge to raise money and awareness for ALS Research is sweeping across social media, and Carnegie Communications employees joined in immediately! The concept of the challenge is brilliant: donate money or endure the ice-cold water! Thankfully, many people are choosing to do both. Over the four years I have been here at Carnegie, I have seen our fantastic staff hold events to raise money for numerous causes, including the Jimmy Fund, Tsunami relief efforts, the Sgt. William J. Woitowicz Memorial Fund, and the American Cancer Society.
This time our team has stepped up big time, calling each other out as well as challenging friends and family outside of Carnegie. Over the past week we have seen our staff even put their children up to the challenge and make it a family event. While no children were harmed during the filming of the challenge, many were cooled down in the summer sun!
The challenge was started by Pete Frates, who is from right here in the Boston area. Pete played baseball for Boston College and was diagnosed with ALS in 2012. He and his family have started a phenomenon that has maximized the power of social media. If ever there was proof of what social media can accomplish when the message has meaning and the content is interesting, this is it. So if you have yet to be called out by a friend, family member, or colleague, jump on board and get started. If you are as lucky as I am to work in a place where colleagues are like family, even better. Fill up your bucket, turn on a camera, and challenge at least three people to do the same in your video. Then, after you warm back up, open your heart and send in a check for this very worthy cause.
Donate to the ALS Foundation here!