Rotary Club of Towne Lake Takes On Ice Bucket Challenge

From The Rotary Club of Towne Lake:

The Rotary Club of Towne Lake displayed its support for the ALS Foundation by participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge Aug. 25 following its regular meeting.

Ice Bucket Challenge donations and awareness provided a $1 million grant to Project MinE, which facilitated researches in identifying NEK1, an ALS gene. Find out more at www.alsa.org.

Rotary Club of Towne Lake members participated in the event last year, and while the challenge no longer is inundating social media, the Club members felt it was imperative to keep raising awareness for the disease, which has no cure.

“Our former District Governor Peter Gleichman, whose family has been directly impacted by ALS, has continued the Ice Bucket Challenge movement in our Rotary District,” said Towne Lake Club secretary and public image chair, Erika Neldner. “Our club was thrilled to be able to participate and keep the awareness raised for ALS in hopes that more donations will help facilitate treatment and a cure for those living with the disease.”

During the Aug. 25 meeting, the Rotary Club of Towne Lake heard from ALS patient Becky Kidd, who was diagnosed with the disease four-and- a-half years ago. Kidd, who was joined at the weekly lunch by her husband, Bryan, and ALS of Georgia representative, Kelsey Garrison, said she was at first in denial of her diagnosis. But after coming to grips with what lay ahead of her, she embraced the “gifts” that having a terminal illness brings.

“I wasn’t ready to face what it meant,” she said, adding that when it got to the point where she needed to share with others her diagnosis, she realized she needed to make choices. “The biggest gift is I joined the ALS community. I have met some of the best people I have ever met in my life.”

Kidd said her diagnosis led her to living life in high definition and being grateful for she has.

“I had to choose anger vs. gratitude,” she said. “Gratitude focuses you on what’s real; it keeps you intentional. I am going to live an intentional life of love and faith … I have a mission and it’s my family.”

Moved by Kidd’s story and wanting to help, several Rotary Club of Towne Lake members provided donations to the ALS Foundation during the meeting.

Photo courtesy of The Rotary Club of Towne Lake