Fund Raising Alternatives

You have certainly all heard by now of the so-called "Ice Bucket Challenge," in which people are asked to dump a bucket of ice water over their heads for the privilege of contributing money to research into ALS (the degenerative disorder also known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease"). If one is challenged and does not wish to be doused with ice water, he or she can buy their way out of the challenge by contributing a larger amount of money - typically $100. If you're on Facebook, you have certainly seen many videos of your friends doing the challenge, and you have also no doubt been tagged by those friends to do the challenge yourself.

Now granted, ALS is a terrible disease and research into finding a cure is expensive. Unfortunately, it does not affect enough people to make it financially worthwhile for the pharmaceutical companies to invest tens of millions of dollars in developing drugs that will treat it ... thus, things like the Ice Bucket Challenge have cropped up to help fill in the funding gap.

As it happens, though, there are lots of other ways to raise money for worthwhile charities. Bake sales are always popular, as are walk-a-thons, pie-eating contests, dance marathons, and other activities that do not involve the heart-stopping shock of having a bucket of ice water dumped on one's head.

Let's look at one in particular that hails from Japan.

According to this article, nine Japanese porn actresses (the ladies in the two back rows in the picture below) raised tens of thousands of dollars for AIDS prevention by staging a "Boob Aid" event.  The nine adult film* stars, wearing yellow campaign T-shirts rolled up to reveal their breasts, offered donors the opportunity to fondle said breasts in exchange for donations ... on average, about 1,000 yen ($10). Both men and women took advantage of the opportunity, spraying their hands with disinfectant before discreetly caressing the offered breasts.

More than 2,300 pairs of hands took part in the event during its 24-hour run, raising an estimated $23,000 for AIDS research and prevention**.

"I'm really looking forward to lots of people fondling my boobs," said one of the actresses in an interview before the event, "but I would be very happy if you would please be delicate." She went on to say that. "I never thought my boobs could contribute to society."

Another porn actress commented, "It's for charity. Squeeze them, donate money - let's be happy."

Happier than if one had a bucket of ice water dumped on one's head, no doubt.

Have a good day. Donate to the charity of your choice ... in a dignified way, please.

More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* I've always thought that was a heckuva euphemism.

** And no doubt raising other things of which we will not speak here.