Ice Bucket Challenge returns with new goal of mental-health awareness

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The Ice Bucket Challenge — dumping a bucket of ice water on your head, filming it for a social media posting and then nominating someone else to do it — is back after just over a decade, according to People.

The challenge first went viral in 2014 to raise awareness of ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Now the #SpeakYourMIND Ice Bucket Challenge has reimagined the trend but it’s geared toward following,  donating to and raising awareness for mental-health organizations.

It started in March when the University of South Carolina’s Mental Illness Needs Discussion (MIND) Club posted a video on Instagram in which founder Wade Jefferson announced they were launching the “SparkYourMIND Ice Bucket Challenge.”

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Participants are asked to nominate two to five people they feel they can “SpeakYourMIND” to and that donations would go toward Active Minds, the largest nonprofit in the U.S. that’s dedicated to changing the stigma around mental health in youth and young adults.

Jefferson — a junior at USC — founded the MIND club after two of his friends died by suicide, according to NBC News, with the original fundraising goal of $500 for the campus only.

But now the campaign has raised over $190,000 for Active Minds and bumped its target to $250,000.

Among those who have embraced the return of the Ice Bucket Challenge are Today show co-host Jenna Bush Hager.

Meanwhile, the ALS Association said in a statement to NBC News: “We’re thrilled to see the spirit of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge live on in new forms of activism.”

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