The ice bucket challenge has gone viral — to say the very least.

Thousands and thousands of videos of men, women, children and even pets having a bucket of ice cold water poured over their heads has been clogging social media newsfeeds for a month now.

Many feel that the videos are nothing more than narcissism disguised as an attempt to help out with a noble cause.

In some cases that may be true.

After all, wouldn’t it be easier to simply write a check to the ALS Association to aid with funding research for Lou Gehrig’s disease? Do we really need to see a video of folks shivering in August to know that money is needed to help combat this terrible disease?

The answer is yes.

Since July 29, the ice bucket challenge has raised nearly $80 million, according to the ALS Association. During that same period last year, the organization raised $2.5 million.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the ice bucket challenge, and we doubt there are many of you out there, here’s how it works.

Once challenged, one has 24 hours to complete the challenge. He or she must also make a video documenting the completion of the challenge.

Participants are asked to donate $10 if they elect to have a bucket of ice water dumped over their heads and $100 if they choose to avoid the icy shower. The money is used to help raise money to fund research for a cure for the disease.

But more than raising money, it’s helping make others away of a disease that has no known cure or cause.

ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body.

The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to the person’s death, according to the ALS Association.

The money raised by these challenges could very well save the life of someone who will one day be diagnosed with ALS.

So, to those of you who are tired of your newsfeed being filled with buckets of ice water, we apologize. You may have stumbled across our own ice bucket challenge video.

On Tuesday we took the plunge, so to speak, after being challenged by Griffin and Lacy Huggins at Greenville Glass Co. Lacy’s mother lost her battle with ALS in October of 2011.

We hope that you too will decide to take the challenge in memory Lisa Gray or someone else that is battling or has lost his or her battle with ALS.

The challenge may be an Internet fad, but for now, it’s a fad that’s making a difference.