GIVE A LITTLE, CONTRIBUTE A LOT

The Ice Bucket Challenge brought in some much needed funds for ALS research. However, there is still no known cause or cure.  

ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, affects more than nerve cells and muscles; it affects families, friends, co-workers, and communities.

One of those families is ours.  Our mother, Eileen Harris, has been experiencing ALS-like symptoms for the past couple of years, and was recently diagnosed with ALS.  She was a Spanish teacher in Montgomery County, MD for over 20 years, and loved her job and the kids that she taught (well, most of the time...).  Fun fact- all three of us took French in school vs. Spanish (that is how nerdy kids rebel)!

When you have ALS, progressive degeneration of the motor neurons eventually leads to their death, and the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, you lose the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe. 

Before our mother retired from teaching this year (based on, among other things, the progression of her ALS symptoms), she was looking forward to pursuing her loves of travel and art, and spending time with her grandkid(s). While she still fully intends to do those things, ALS will make certain of those dreams more difficult, and eventully impossible. What's also impossible is for us to sit by and do nothing.  Again, there isn't a known cure, and this needs to change!

As such, we have created this fund for the ALS Association to support global research projects (see the ALS Research page at http://www.alsa.org/research/ for additional information).

What does "Give a little, contribute a lot" mean?  It means that, for every $800 donated to the ALS Association through this fundraiser, we will (collectively) spend at least 1 hour of time volunteering for one or more organizations that provide tutoring services to children (with a maximum of 50 hours of time). Even though our mother can no longer teach, we will!

So, when you give a little (or more!) to the ALS Association, you will effectively contribute to both the ALS Association and those other organizations.  100% of donations go to the ALS Association and are tax deductible (subject to applicable tax rules, of course).

We are truly grateful for any contribution that you can make.

Happy Holidays, and we hope you all get to spend quality time with your own families!

Emily, Ashley and Johnny Harris

Prefer to make a donation by check? Print and submit this form with your gift.