Ice Bucket Challenge? Nah – Let’s Do Shots!

My Beauty Bunny ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – Done a Little Differently

Everyone and their mother has taken the ice bucket challenge by now. I was challenged to do it by my ex-boyfriend of 8 years, Jason Milligan. Backstory: we moved out to California together from Louisiana, and eventually grew apart, but I still consider him a friend. A lot of good memories with that crazy guy. 🙂

Okay – I’m going to bum you out for a minute before we get to the fun stuff.

Celebs like Pamela Anderson have come out and said they will not donate to ALSA because of the animal testing they conduct for research purposes.

Now here’s where we get into a tricky area. I am 100% against animal testing within the cosmetics industry, because it is 100% unnecessary. As much as it hurts me to say it, we don’t NEED cosmetics. Especially cheap makeup (I’m looking at you Proctor & Gamble). And there are plenty of much better safety testing alternatives.

Unfortunately, I witnessed first-hand, Jason’s grandmother die from ALS (AKA Lou Gherig’s disease). When I met Jason, his grandma was already suffering from the disease. She could barely move – all she could do was watch TV all day. She went from being a feisty Cuban-American to a shell of her former self. Toward the end, she couldn’t use the bathroom on her own, and her own teenage son had to help her. All of her muscles stopped working in a slow, agonizing way, and eventually, her lungs stopped working, and she stopped breathing.

I remember the funeral. I remember I was crying so much, that I had to find an empty room, so I wouldn’t disturb the rest of his family. I remember the sadness and heartbreak of Jason and his entire family.

Here’s Jason’s moving story in memoriam to his grandmother.

And here’s his ice bucket challenge:

So did I donate to ALSA? Yes. They are not only doing research, but also reaching out to help families who have the disease – something Jason’s grandma could have used at the time. Medical animal testing needs to end, but so does ALS. It was a hard one for me, but I decided to offset my donation by donating an additional $100 to PCRM (Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine)– an organization that works to find alternatives to animal testing. I’m hoping one day we can find a cure without animal testing.

You may not agree with my decision, but did what I felt was right. You have to do what you think is right.

I was also challenged by Sunny of Vegan Beauty Review to do the “Hydrate and Donate” challenge. Basically you drink a beverage and donate to an animal charity of your choice (mine being PCRM).

Here’s this adorable pink-haired vegan mama CALLING ME OUT! LOL!

I wanted to take it up a notch, so I did an “experiment” on myself with the help of my fiance, Gregg. It’s a whole lot of silly, so I hope you enjoy it and donate to whichever organization makes sense in your heart.