One of the biggest names in San Diego sports took on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Thursday, putting his shivers toward a fundraising cause that is approaching an unprecedented $100 million.
"We’re not doing this as a stunt, we're doing this as a strong real purpose,” said San Diego State men’s basketball coach Steve Fisher.
The head coach has a close connection to ALS – also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His son suffers from it.
So as players poured Gatorade containers filled the icy water over Fisher and his staff’s heads, Fisher had a personal stake in the campaign, wanting to know where the funds are going.
"The most important thing we can do for it is find a cure for it or find a way to turn a 2 to 5 year expectancy into 10 to 15 years,” said Fisher.
For the ALS Association, the Ice Bucket Challenge is the summer jackpot, raising $94 million and counting since the campaign started. That is compared to $2 million in personal donations the organization raised this time last year.
San Diego Chapter Executive Director Steve Becvar told NBC 7 the foundation is unchartered territory.
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None of the money has been earmarked yet, so Becvar is as eager as anyone to see how it’s divided because most of the money raised is at the national level.
“We do have three prongs: the first one is research, the second one is care services and the third one is public policy and advocacy,” he said.
Fisher said he hopes part of the donations will help local families, but said he has faith in the association’s ability to handle the money responsibly and transparently, which leaders have promised to do.
So far, 90 percent of the total raised has gone directly to the national campaign. But if you’d like to help with services for people living with ALS in San Diego, you can donate through the local chapter at ALSASD.org.
