The Student Council leaders at Burr Intermediate School in Long Island have embarked on a consciousness raising effort to educate their classmate and the community at large about a debilitating disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Armed with the information from wheelchair-bound Northport teacher Chris Pendergast, who inspired the students with his first hand account of his efforts of "Riding for a Cure" to raise awareness, and his own philosophy of coping with ALS by helping others, the students are compiling and selling cookbooks to raise funds for research to find a cure for the fatal disease.

Chris Pendergast told the students about Yankee Lou Gehrig's experience with ALS, how he stood at the plate prepared to hit another of his famous triples, swung, spun around, and fell to the ground, completely missing the ball. He spoke of #4's decreased ability to field grounders, and his search for an answer, going from doctor to doctor to find a cause for his lack of coordination. Lou Gehrig retired from baseball in 1939, and died less than two years after being diagnosed with ALS at the age of thirty-seven.

Originally known as "creeping paralysis," the national Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke defines ALS "as a progressive, fatal, neurological disease affecting as many as 20,000 Americans with 5,000 new cases occurring in the United States each year. ALS occurs when specific nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary Movement gradually degenerate. The loss of these motor neurons causes the muscles under their control to weaken and waste away, leading to paralysis. ALS manifests itself in different ways, depending on which muscles weaken first. Symptoms may include tripping and falling, loss of motor control in hands and arms, difficulty speaking, swallowing, and/or breathing, persistent fatigue, and twitching and cramping, sometimes quite severely. ALS strikes in mid-life. Men are about one-and-a-half times more likely to have the disease than women. Six thousand people die each year from ALS in the United States, and there is currently no treatment (drugs therapy) or cure. ALS is usually fatal within five years after diagnosis.

Chris is amazing in many ways. He has lived many years longer than usual for someone with ALS, and he chose not to become sad or angry. As told the students, "What good would that do?" Instead, he decided to dedicate the time he has left to an unceasing effort to make a difference and help find a cure for ALS. He told the students, "I don't want to see another person diagnosed or die from the disease." He rode his wheelchair from Yankee Stadium to Washington DC. Spending 10 hours a day in his "Ride 4 Life," it took him two weeks. He also rode from Montauk to Yankee Stadium to encourage "people to learn about the disease and help cure it."

The Burr students will create a cookbook and use the money raised to assist the ALS organization in the cost of hiring researchers and scientists. Chris finished by telling the students, "I am very happy and satisfied with my life. It's not important how long you live, but how well you live. True happiness comes from helping other people, not by making yourself happy. ALS will be cured; it's only a matter of time. Your efforts will help that cause."