Members of the Ludowici Police Department on Wednesday took the Ice Bucket Challenge to help raise awareness and money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research.
Chief Robert Poppell and other department employees were soaked with ice water dumped on them by city backhoe operator Chris Fuller. In addition to taking the challenge, each department member made a monetary donation to the ALS Association. Poppell said Derek Howard challenged the LPD.
“I believe that this is an admirable event for a great cause and encourage everyone to donate to the ALS Association,” Poppell said.
Poppell said that his department is now challenging Ludowici City Hall, the Ludowici Public Works Department, the Long County Courthouse, the Ludowici/Long County Fire Department, the Long County Sheriff’s Office, and Georgia State Patrol Office that is located in Hinesville to take the Ice Bucket Challenger for ALS.
The Ice Bucket Challenge was originally called the Cold Water Challenge and it was first completed in 2013 with several charities receiving donations. On June 30th members from the golf show, Morning Drive completed the challenge using ice water on live television. Golfer Greg Norman then issued the challenge to NBC Today Show host Matt Lauer. On July 15th Lauer completed the challenge on his show. On that same day golfer Chris Kennedy did the challenge and then challenged his cousin Jeanette Senerchia, whose husband Anthony is fighting ALS. Kennedy was the first person to do the challenge with ALS being the focus.
According to a report in the New York Times, since Kennedy’s challenge more than 1.2 million people on Facebook and more than 2.2 million on Twitter have posted videos or pictures of them completing the challenge. According to the ALS Association since the initial challenge over 100 million dollars has been raised to help the fight against ALS, with over 3 million people making donations.
ALS, which is more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease attacks the muscle system making it difficult to move, swallow, and breath. Approximately 5,600 people are diagnosed with ALS every year in the United States; of these only 4% are expected to live ten years from when their initial symptoms arose. Most victims die within 3-5 years from signs of being diagnosed. For more information on ALS go to www.alsa.com.