Westchester Residents Take Ice Bucket for ALS Support

WESTCHESTER, N.Y. -- Westchester residents are joining celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Matt Lauer, Martha Stewart and Kennedy family members who have taken the Ice Bucket Challenge that's helped raise $2.3 million for the national ALS Association since July 29.

Tom Lore of Eastchester takes two buckets for friends and to help fight ALS.

Photo Credit: Contributed/Tom Lore

Saunders boys basketball coach Anthony Nicodemo shows his support for increasing ALS awareness.

Photo Credit: Contributed/Anthony Nicodemo

by Danny LoPriore

08/13/2014 4:00 p.m.

Yonkers' Anthony Nicodemo, a teacher and basketball coach at Saunders High School, was challenged Tuesday, Aug. 12, and took the bucket Wednesday, Aug. 13.

"I was called out yesterday, so I will have (the proof) Wednesday," Nicodemo said.

Mama Francesca's in New Rochelle will host a Night Out for a Good Cause for $20 in an ALS fundraiser Thursday, Aug. 14, for those who wish to contribute less than the $100 "ice bucket" donation. Mama's is at 414 Pelham Road. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is also known as Lou Gehrig's diseast.

Eastchester's Tom Lore took took the bucket on July 29 and is raising awareness and getting others into the act. He invites everyone to the Mama Francesca's fundraiser.

"I got involved through friends of the two guys that everyone has been doing the challenge in honor of," Lore said. "They are both local and many haven't been able to donate, so our fundraiser is giving them that opportunity."

Robert Forcelli, a teacher and Yonkers native hopes the cold deal to help ALS causes will be advanced to the winter.

"While the ice bucket challenge has been great to raise awareness for ALS, most people who do it don't donate anything," Forcelli said via Facebook. "I think the challenge needs to be resurrected in December/January ... something tells me that the $100 donations will go waaaay up."

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