I have been nominated by my sister, Rachelle to take part in the ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) ice bucket challenge to help raise awareness and money to help research a cure for this terrible disease. I know some of you are tired and even annoyed seeing these videos clog up your Facebook feed, but chew on this, the ALS Association and its chapters collectively raised about $64 million last year, and in the past three weeks, the organization has seen more than a 1100% increase in year-over-year donations — all attributable to this challenge. You also should realize that ALS is technically an “orphan disease” — it afflicts about 30,000 Americans, or about 2 in 100,000 people. That means there’s little incentive for pharmaceutical companies to pour billions into research and development and pursue the market. I accept this challenge in memory of my friend, David Spizuoco who lost his battle with ALS in January of 2011, for my friend Kerri Cunningham Pace, who lost her father Patrick to ALS many years ago and for Gerry Hayden, of the North Fork Table and Inn, who is currently suffering from ALS and has already accepted and done the ALS ice bucket challenge. Unlike some videos I have seen, this will not be the cup of ice water challenge, nor will it be the pail full of luke warm water challenge, this will be a true ICE BUCKET challenge and I will also be making a donation. I will now nominate three people to take the ALS ice bucket challenge, first my friend, Scott Kampf second I nominate my friend Deirdre Marie White and last but not least, I nominate my friend and Southampton Town Clerk, Sundy Schermeyer, I owe you for dunking me those dozens of times at the Rotary Flea Market a few years ago. You each have 24 hours.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 04:18:06 +0000