Wash Heights School Walks Through Neighborhood To Raise Money For ALS

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Students from a Washington Heights school took to the streets on Wednesday in an annual tradition to raise money to combat ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).

Over 700 students from grades six to 12 at the Community Health Academy of the Heights walked across Washington Heights to honor the organization ALS Ride for Life.

Students at the school have been participating in the walk for 13 years.

"It's a really great school spirit event and even has seniors who are writing their colleges essays about the day and walk," Jean Ellen Murphy, a teacher at CHAH, whose mother had ALS, told Patch. "It shows the humanity in our kids. The walk allows them to see so much more and help people, and do things beyond themselves."

The walk started a CHAH's campus at 158th Street and traveled up to Columbian-Presbyterian Hospital, before making its way back down to the school.

Once back at the school, hundreds of students, volunteers and staff kicked off a set of speeches, ending with the students presenting a check to the ALS Ride for Life organization.

"The kids have been amazing," Murphy told Patch.

ALS is a disease that affects nerve cells in both the upper and lower parts of the body, which eventually leads to paralysis. People generally live three to five years after first being diagnosed.

You can find out more about the organization on its website.