Wilmington Community Ice Bucket Challenge Set For August 29 At Rotary Park

WILMINGTON, MA — The Wilmington Rotary Club will hold Wilmington’s first ever Community Ice Bucket Challenge on Saturday, August 29 at 10am at Rotary Park. This fundraiser for ALS research will take place rain or shine and is open to all ages.

The Rotary Club will provide the buckets, water and ice. Participants are encouraged to bring a towel and camera, along with their family and friends.

Donations, in any amount, will be collected at the event.  If you’d like to contribute but cannot attend, mail your donation to Wilmington Rotary Club, PO Box 508, Wilmington, MA 01887.

Wilmington Selectmen unanimously approved the Rotary Club’s use of Rotary Park for this fundraiser at its board meeting on Monday night.  Selectmen Chair Mike Champoux and Assistant Town Manager Kendra Amaral encouraged residents to attend.

The request had the support of Wilmington’s Public Safety Department and Public Works Department. The event posed no conflict with any Wilmington Little League games.

According to a recent press release from the ALS Association:

Last year, more than 17 million ALS Ice Bucket Challenge videos were posted to Facebook and these videos were watched by 440 million people a total of 10 billion times. More than $220 million was raised globally with $115 million going to The ALS Association, which is putting these dollars to work funding exciting new initiatives to find treatments and a cure for the disease through research, care services and public policy.

ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Eventually, people with ALS lose the ability to initiate and control muscle movement, which often leads to total paralysis and death within two to five years of diagnosis. For unknown reasons, veterans are twice as likely to develop ALS as the general population. There is no cure, and only one drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) modestly extends survival.

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