Partners for Hope

The ALS Association and Phi Delta Theta have established an international philanthropic partnership to fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease that took Gehrig's life and his name.

This partnership formalizes an already existing bond between The ALS Association and Phi Delta Theta, which began as a result of a mutual interest in helping those suffering from ALS. New York Yankee Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity while attending Columbia University in New York, and is now the heart and impetus of the group's philanthropic endeavors.

"Phi Delta Theta is very pleased to partner with the ALS Association and the ALS Society of Canada to help support ALS patients and their families," said Robert A. Biggs, executive vice president of Phi Delta Theta. "We are very hopeful our efforts will help create greater awareness of this horrible disease and the urgency to find a cure for ALS."

With more than 5,800 undergraduate members and approximately 150,000 alumni, the Fraternity's goals are to encourage all its chapters to participate in The ALS Association's noted fundraising event, the Walk to Defeat ALS, to increase public awareness of ALS and the work that The ALS Association and The ALS Society of Canada (ALSSOC) are doing to combat the disease, and to challenge other fraternities and sororities on campuses across the country to put together teams to join the Walk to Defeat ALS.

Phi Delta Theta is the first fraternity organization to designate a month dedicated to community service. Each April, chapters of the fraternity host events such as sports tournaments, PHI-lanthropy Week, battle of the band events, product sales, raffles and auctions to support their local chapters of The ALS Association and ALSSC.

Phi Delt chapters across the country have donated much of their philanthropy and community service efforts to ALS-related causes over the years, including volunteering as an extra pair of hands for people who have lost the use of theirs, or visiting with those that are bedridden.

During the 2002-2003 academic year, Phi Delta Theta chapters raised more than $32,000 to help fight ALS. The fraternity stimulates friendly competition by giving out chapter and individual awards for most money raised.

The fraternity also issues an annual Lou Gehrig Memorial Award to the Major-League Baseball player who best exemplifies the giving character of Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig. The award was first presented in 1955 and is permanently maintained in Cooperstown, N.Y.

As part of the ALS Association's mission to find a cure for and improve living with ALS, The ALS Association encourages, identifies, funds and monitors worldwide ALS-directed research. This research to date has resulted in the development of animal models that provide a platform to test disease mechanism hypotheses and therapeutic compounds. Advances in gene therapy and stem cell biology have also opened new avenues of research.

Advances on the scientific front are complemented by an array of clinical techniques that are assisting people with ALS and their families and caregivers in managing the challenges of the disease. The ALS Association's chapters assists with referrals for counseling, training and support on how to cope with this disease; provide clinical care regardless of race, color, creed or financial status through its nationwide network of ALS Association Certified Centers^SM, and serve as the national information resource on ALS for the medical profession, patients and family members.

Phi Delta Theta International Fraternity was founded in 1848 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The Fraternity now has 217,386 members who have pledged themselves to live by the ideals of friendship, sound learning and rectitude. Today there are 167 active chapters in 43 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces. The Fraternity's open motto, "Eis aner oudeis aner," is a Greek phrase meaning "We enjoy life by the help and society of others."

The ALS Association is the only national not-for-profit voluntary health organization devoted solely to the fight against ALS.

For more information on Phi Delta Theta and to read their online magazine, Scroll, visit their web site, at www.phideltatheta.org.

Phi Delta Theta alum and Former LU athlete Ungrodt shares his battle with ALS.