Aug. 10

My #IceBucketChallenge #IndyAdventure

Well, I had given up on blogging until today. The obnoxious thing about having a blog is that you feel like you should be using it more than once every four weeks (oops!) but the good thing about it is this: it's a great place to voice your opinions and get people's attention. So here I go. I'm gonna count this as a true #IndyAdventure, because I am doing something, and I am in Indy.

As an avid social media user, I (like I'm sure most of you) have been bombarded with videos of people completing the #IceBucketChallenge to stomp out ALS. Personally, I thought the videos were cool! I enjoyed seeing who would be nominated next, and watching people willingly dump freezing water on themselves is hilarious. What I also began to see circulating on Facebook and Twitter were negative reactions to the "challenge," and honestly, I think those reactions were warranted. Many people who posted the videos failed to mention ALS at all, didn't offer any background as to why they were doing the challenge, and you have to wonder how many people posting even know what the disease is. But here's the thing: good or bad, those videos prompted me to type "ALS" into my search bar. This was the first link I came across, titled "What is ALS?" I thought that was a good start. Read this: http://www.alsa.org/about-als/what-is-als.html At the bottom of the page, I came across the link for the Walk to Defeat ALS, and I clicked. One zip code search later, I found a walk scheduled in Detroit for September. And now, here I am, starting a team. The #IceBucketChallenge might not have struck a chord with everybody, but for some reason it prompted me to take action, and now I'm ready to do my part to strike out ALS. My birthday is this week, and people keep asking me what I want. Here's what I want. Join my team and walk with me on Sept. 27th. If you can't do that, donate, or look for a walk in your own area to register for. You can do that here: http://web.alsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WLK_landing#.U-faTI1dU4s If you can't do that, spread the word and do what you can to bring hope to people with this awful disease. One click makes a difference. So does one search, and one dollar. My goal is to have a team that raises $1,750 in a little over a month, so any help you can give is greatly appreciated. If you're interested in walking with me, let me know! Let's do what we can, big and small, to give people with ALS hope and support! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Click here to visit my personal page