The Ice Bucket Challenge has become the biggest philanthropic trend to take off in recent years, and has proven just how game the Filipino is in jumping on the bandwagon.
The Ice Bucket Challenge, which has counted celebs, government officials and even businessmen among those who have taken it up, was started in the US this year to raise awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
From July to August alone, the New York Times reported that over $41 million had been raised.
We’re all for such fundraising, but what about localizing the effort, or taking on the challenge for an issue much closer to home? ALS is, indeed, a serious disease, but there is no Filipino organization for it; whatever these celebs donate goes abroad.
Meanwhile, the Philippines has its own urgent causes that you wish could generate the same level of enthusiasm.
Why not a challenge to raise money for the sorely underfunded Philippine General Hospital, for example, or to save poor children from malnutrition—or even, hello, to finally get the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” earthquakes or even the Zamboanga siege into decent homes again?
Just sayin’. It’s called helping out in our own backyard, and not just because David Beckham or Donatella Versace did it first.