Despite the rain, more than 100 people turned out to run, or walk, around the baseball diamonds in support of ALS on May 21 and once again, it was great to see the depths of enthusiasm this community has for the various causes that it champions.
This time last year, I was on the east coast participating in a different sort of ALS-related fundraising — the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
If you don’t know what that is, the goal is to nominate at least three people for the challenge of dumping freezing cold water on yourself, to simulate the effects ALS has on nerves, and you’ve got to fundraise and catch everything on video too.
I believe my own clip is still floating around the Internet somewhere.
Anyway, the point is that when I caught onto the Ice Bucket Challenge, the videos were already what the kids call “viral” nowadays.
Because of the bigger medical issues, we tend to overlook ALS when it comes to fundraising.
It gets overshadowed by Cancer, AIDS/HIV, and whatever else happens to be the viral flavour of the month — April and May were dedicated to Zika, March screamed Ebola, for example, but the truth is this is just as serious.
Losing motor function, the ability to control your own mobility, et cetera, must be a real nightmare and I hope something like this never befalls me.
The people that participated in the fun run last weekend deserve a lot of kudos, not just for showing up and ignoring a little bit of rain.
One little girl, Alexis Velkow, who ran all by herself, raised $125 on her own.
Bob’s Boutique sponsored 40 runners.
In total, the ALS Fun Run raised $12,400 in donations.
Not bad considering it was cold and wet, the route had been changed twice and it was a one-day event.
That’s why I like living here.
You never cease to surprise, impress and inspire me Barrhead.
Next year, if I’m not the one covering it, I’m going to run and I’d encourage you to do the same.
One never knows what the future has in store for them.
