PEARCY -- The Lake Hamilton School District is opening up a competition to see who will be allowed to pour a bucket of ice water on Superintendent Steve Anderson as part of the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Anderson has been challenged to participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge, a fundraising campaign for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research. ALS is often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease.
The Ice Bucket Challenge has helped to exponentially increase ALS awareness and fundraising over recent weeks.
Each school on the Lake Hamilton campus began collecting donations Wednesday. Collections will continue until next Wednesday.
The principal of the school that raises the highest amount for the ALS Association will pour the water on Anderson.
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 their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.
The ALS Association reported Wednesday that it had received $8.6 million in donations Tuesday, more than 16 times the amount received over the same period in 2013.
Local on 08/21/2014