News & Stories
On a Sunday afternoon in 2024, David was at the Falcons game. He watched Arthur Blank walk onto the field with former Falcons linebacker Tim Green, who has lived with ALS for nearly a decade. A volunteer came by his seat with a $10 raffle ticket to support ALS organizations. David passed. “That’s not my passion,” he thought. “My work is about kids.” For 25 years – first as a school principal and administrator and later as CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta – David dedicated his life to helping young people in high-need communities find their potential. That was his passion. ALS was not part of that story. Eight days later, he was diagnosed with ALS. The days that followed were hard. David walked out of the ALS clinic at Emory with a folder of resources from ALS United of Georgia and set it on a shelf. He wasn’t ready. “I just wasn’t ready to receive all the support people were pouring my way.”
It was months before he opened the folder. Inside it, he found guidance, practical support, and a team ready to walk alongside him and his family.For David, this was more than just information. It was: ▸ A support group where people truly understand. ▸ Resources to help him stay mobile and independent. ▸ Financial assistance that helped make a wheelchair-accessible van possible. ▸ A community at walkALS Georgia that, in his words, “was there”.
David’s priorities changed. Ours haven’t — ALS United of Georgia has always been here for Georgians like David. Donations from supporters like you mean we always will be. Every day in Georgia, someone receives the same diagnosis David did eight days after he didn’t buy that raffle ticket. ALS is progressive, unpredictable, and still without a cure. Families need somewhere to turn. They need support, resources, and people who will walk beside them through every stage of the disease. Because of donors like you, ALS United of Georgia is that place — and every service we provide is offered free of charge to the families who need it.
Will you make a gift today in honor of ALS Awareness Month? Your gift means a newly diagnosed Georgian can leave the clinic and know there is somewhere to turn when they are ready. The folder will be waiting. The community will be here. Thank you for standing with David, with the more than 600 Georgians living with ALS, and with the families whose names we don’t yet know.
