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A2 U.S. NEWS
Monday 30 deceMber 2019

A final fundraiser for man who boosted ice bucket challenge

Associated Press Harbor Beach in Glouces- wearing the bikini she had
GLOUCESTER, Mass. (AP) ter, and more than half of on when she first met her
— Hundreds of people those braved the frigid wa- husband. "This is the best
plunged into the chilly ters on what would have birthday party he could ask
ocean at a Massachusetts been Frates' 35th birthday. for and wherever he is, he is
beach on Saturday to hon- The event, in its eighth very grateful."
or Peter Frates, the former year, raised money for the The former Boston College
college baseball player Pete Frates #3 Fund, which baseball player, who lived
whose battle with Lou Geh- helped pay for Frates' med- in Beverly, a suburb north
rig's disease helped spread ical bills. of Boston, died Dec. 9 af-
the ALS ice bucket chal- "He is laughing so hard right ter a seven-year battle with
lenge. now at me getting into the amyotrophic lateral sclero-
About 1,000 people ocean," said Frates' wife, sis.
showed up for the final Julie, who participated in The family has accumulat-
"Plunge for Pete" at Good the plunge for the first time ed roughly $500,000 in debt
People take the ice bucket challenge during the last "Plunge for
Pete" event on what would have been Pete Frates' 35th birthday,
at Good Harbor in Gloucester, Mass., Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019.
Associated Press

for their son's medical care, head and posting a video
Pete's father, John Frates of it on social media, and
said, and the final fundrais- then challenging others to
er will hopefully help close do the same or make a
the gap. donation to charity. Most
The number of people who people did both.
signed up to take the actu- The challenge began in
al plunge far exceeded the 2014 when pro golfer Chris
peak of 250 participants Kennedy challenged his
who participated in 2014, wife's cousin Jeanette
the year the ice bucket Senerchia, whose husband
challenge went viral and has ALS. Patient Pat Quinn,
raised more than $200 mil- of Yonkers, New York,
lion for ALS research world- picked up on it and started
wide. its spread, but when Frates
The ice bucket challenge and his family got involved,
involved pouring a buck- the phenomenon explod-
et of ice water over one's ed on social media.q