Last night, The Princess Royal attended a reception at British Medical Association House in London. The reception celebrated the success of the effort to raise awareness about Motor Neurone Disease and the funds raised for the charity by the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Last summer, the Ice Bucket Challenge took the world by storm. Both celebrities and the masses doused themselves with ice cold water in front of a camera to raise awareness about Motor Neurone Disease (MND), before nominating a couple of others to donate to the charity or take part in the challenge too.
While there was some furore about the amount of clean water being wasted in this challenge, it was undoubtedly effective in raising awareness about MND. In the three weeks, when the challenge was going viral, the charity received £7.1 million from nearly a million individual donors, contributing significantly to the £16.8 million raised by the Association in 2014.
The Motor Neurone Disease Association stipulated how it intended to spend the money raised by the Ice Bucket Challenge. Chief executive of the MND Association, Sally Light, said that the Ice Bucket Challenge proved to be a turning point in the charity’s history.
Over the next three years, the money raised will be used to open three new care centres in addition to the 19 already in operation. Some of the funds will be spent on campaigning activities and raising awareness. A portion of the amount will also be set aside for research about the disease.
“This will help us to ensure that the needs of people with MND are recognised and met,” Ms Light said.
Motor Neurone Disease (also known as ALS) is a neurological disorder that affects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. MND affects a person’s ability to walk, talk and breathe, and eventually leads to weakness, physical disability and finally death.
The Motor Neurone Disease Association is a national charity in the UK which works to carry out MND care, research and campaigning. The Association has over 140 staff members, 3,000 volunteers and nearly 8,000 members. Together, they for a national and local network, and try to help improve the lives of people affected by MND. The Princess Royal is Patron of this association.
The event, which was hosted by singer Michael Ball, ended with a speech by Princess Anne. Her Royal Highness spoke of how “the money will help researchers understand the urgency and necessity to make it work better for people with ??MND.” She further commented with a laugh, “Oh and of course I was lucky to get away with it!”
Although Princess Anne wasn’t nominated for the Ice Bucket Challenge, the rest of her family didn’t get away so easily. Her nephew, Prince Harry, was nominated by Ellie Goulding, Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Oliver, and her niece, Princess Beatrice was asked to do the challenge by supermodel Karolina Kurkova. And even The Queen wasn’t spared. The 89-year-old Monarch was nominated to carry out the task by Gossip Girl actor Ed Westwick. Obviously, she did not.
Featured photo credit: Mark Hakansson
One thing about the Ice Bucket Challenge that I didn’t quite understand was that people were supposed to do the ice bucket OR donate. Seems to me most people did both. I’m glad I wasn’t nominated. I have MS and ice water isn’t allowed and I have no money.