Support Us By Contributing to A.L.S.

SisterFriends Together doesn’t cost much to keep up and running. Every five years a couple hundred dollars renews the domain name and once a year another two double zero bills keeps the webhost off my heels so covering the expenses out of pocket is more than manageable for me and mine. And yet over the years people will write, asking if they might contribute to the ministry as a way of expressing their appreciation for what SisterFriends has meant to them and to secure it’s presence for those who would come after them in the future seeking support.

If this is you, then could I ask that rather than directing a donation toward SisterFriends Together, you could consider offering your financial support to an organization close to my heart; the Oregon/Washington Chapter for the ALS Association. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a progressive degeneration of the motor neurons. As the motor neurons are destroyed, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. As the muscles weaken from lack of nutrition and use, they atrophy, wasting away. In time, the person living with ALS may lose the ability to speak, swallow, and breath without medical intervention, and in the last stages may become completely paralyzed.

The average life expectancy of those living with ALS is two to five years from diagnosis to death. As many as 5600 people are newly diagnosed with ALS in the United States every year, yet due to the rapid progression of the disease the average number of people living with ALS at any time is less than 30,000. This means that ALS falls under the classification of a “orphan disease,” a disease that hasn’t been “adopted” by pharmaceutical companies because the profit margin is considered too small to make it worth their while to make the monetary investment in the research and development of the medications that would treat or prevent the disease.

My brother is one of the 5600 people who was diagnosed in 2009 with ALS. To me my brother’s life is more valuable than any amount of money it could ever take to find a cure. There are hundreds of thousands of family members and friends around the world who feel exactly the same of their loved ones as I and my family do of ours. And so, if you appreciate the ministry of SisterFriends Together then please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Oregon/Washington Chapter of the ALS Association. I would be forever grateful, and so will those who one day will be spared from the ravages of this disease because people like you contributed to finding a treatment and a cure.

If you would like to learn more about ALS, go here.

God bless,