Dr. John Kellogg dumps a bucket of ice water over his head as part of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
Community leaders gathered on the steps of Westerville’s City Hall on Tuesday evening, August 19, to get drenched in buckets of ice water as part of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon that is sweeping the country. The challenge involves people getting doused with ice water on video, posting that video to social media, and then nominating others to do the same, all in an effort to raise ALS awareness. Those who refuse to take the challenge are asked to make a donation to the ALS charity of their choice. Most choose to donate anyway, and as of August 19, the ALS Association announced that nearly $23 million had been received. To understand just how successful this campaign has been, last year during the same time period (July 29 to August 19), the association received $1.9 million in donations.
Dr. Kellogg accepted the challenge from State Representative Anne Gonzales. He, in turn, is challenging every third grade teacher in the Westerville City School District to join in the fun, saying, “If they can survive the Third Grade Reading Guarantee, they can survive anything.”
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord, eventually leading to death. Dr. Kellogg participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge in memory of Cindy Crowe, a long-time Westerville City Schools Board of Education member who recently succumbed to the disease.