A drop in the bucket

A man takes the Ice Bucket Challenge with nearly 100 people from the IT industry on August 21 in Beijing. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Icy challenge offers limited help to ALS patients

"As the Ice Bucket Challenge stays hot online, our cold lives remain unchanged," said Tian Kong, an Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patient in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

The Ice Bucket Challenge, a fundraising activity first initiated in the US for a rare disease called ALS, has helped raise millions of yuan in China after arriving in the country just a couple of weeks ago.

The challenge has taken both celebrities and ordinary people worldwide by storm as they flock to post videos of themselves having ice water dumped over their heads as a way to raise awareness while making donations.

But there has been controversy as well. Some have criticized the pouring of ice water as a waste of resources, while places like Henan Province are experiencing a severe drought. Meanwhile, many asked whether the challenge was really doing good, or was just a way to show off.

Promising picture

Amid increasing skepticisms regarding its effectiveness, the social media phenomenon has had positive results, producing widespread awareness and unprecedented donation numbers.

"I appreciate the campaign using creative and entertaining ways to promote awareness of ALS among the Chinese society as the international event has slowly become localized," Yu Zhu, the wife of an ALS patient in Beijing, told the Global Times.

The China Dolls Foundation for Rare Disorders has received the most donations, reaching more than 8 million yuan ($1.3 million) as of Wednesday. Previously, the organization had only raised 15 million yuan over the six years since it was founded.

Sun Yue, spokesman for the foundation agreed that awareness of ALS has been unprecedented thanks to the Ice Bucket Challenge, following years of difficulties in explaining the disease to the public while trying to raise donations.

"But there has been a misunderstanding about our foundation as donating to us will not only serve ALS patients, but patients with different types of rare disorders," Sun said.

This, too has become one point of argument among concerns that China currently lacks a professional and comprehensive charity that specializes in ALS.