Huntsville, Alabama (WHNT) – Rain helps drenching the CEO of Northern Alabama under a bucket on Brahan Spring Park’s splash pad for the region’s first CEO soak hosted by the Alabama Chapter of the ALS Association. I was.
“It’s hot, so be prepared!” said GovCon CEO Lee Mixon. Avion Solutions CEO Chad Donald said:
Over the past few weeks, GovCon and other participating companies have been raising funds for the Alabama Chapter.
Mixon said he was forced to join CEO Salk, which benefits programs and research for those affected by the disease, because of the statistics he learned about veterans.
“Veterans are twice as likely to get ALS. Being a veteran myself, that really resonated with me,” Mixon said.
In Donald’s case, one of his employees was directly affected by ALS. After further investigation, he learned that this was the cause they wanted to support.
“We support community-focused things and want to help as much as we can,” he said. “It took a lot of the excitement out of our time and helped raise money. I think a lot of people would have liked to see the CEO get wet!”
The North Alabama CEO wasn’t the only one taking the plunge. Nationally, other executives are soaking wet to raise as much money as possible for the ALS Association. Soak is following in the footsteps of the 2014 national Ice Bucket Challenge, which raised over $100 million for the association.
“It was an incredible viral fundraiser that raised over $100 million for the association, much of the money to fund research and new programs and services for families and patients living with ALS. It was used to provide funding,” Stuart said.
The Obermanns say Huntsville CEO Soak is off to a great start for what they hope to grow even bigger. Through an ongoing fundraiser, he has raised more than $30,000 ahead of Tuesday’s event. That money will benefit people in the area, including those who utilize his ALS care clinic, the only one in Alabama, in Huntsville. Marcia was the original director when the clinic first started.
“There are 25 families living with the disease in Huntsville and Madison County at any one time. With over 250 in Alabama, it’s more common than people think,” Stuart said.
The Oberman family is one of them. Their son, Eric, died at the age of 29 after living with ALS for 10 years. Marcia said part of the reason Eric lived his decade was because they had access to information.
“When you’re in an ALS sick club, there’s a lot of ALS out there and people don’t know where to turn. We need events like this, financial support for struggling families,” said Marsha.
They say advocating research was his passion, and he made many trips to the Capitol. The ALS Association’s ultimate goal is to fund research until a cure is found, or at least a way to make the disease liveable.
“The cure doesn’t happen overnight. We’ve been studying this disease for over 100 years, and we’re not there yet, but recently we’ve seen promising treatments that add six months or two years of life. There are laws out there, and it may not seem like a long time, but for an ALS patient who usually dies in three to five years, six months with family is an eternity,” Stuart said. said.
That’s why events like the CEO Soak are so important.
“The funds we raise here locally and nationally will help us get there,” Stuart said.
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