Kids & Family
A Great Weekend for Ice Bucket Challenge Creator
More than 500 plunge into ice cold water to #StrikeOutALS and Gillette Stadium sings Happy Birthday to Beverly's Pete Frates.
More than $90,000 raised to fight ALS, 500 people jumping into an ice-cold lake and 68,000 singing happy birthday at Gillette Stadium. This all adds up to a great weekend and a happy 30th birthday for Beverly’s Pete Frates.
Frates, a former Boston College baseball player who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2012, is largely credited with the Ice Bucket Challenge going viral this summer.
On Saturday, Dec. 27, Frates continued to raise money and awareness for ALS with the third annual Plunge for Pete. More than 500 people travelled to Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester for the event, typically called a Polar Plunge. With more than 200 teams registered and with one team raising $11,000 alone, the event raised more than $90,000 for ALS.
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ESPN filmed Plunge for Pete and broadcasted it live for SportsCenter.
“It’s really emotional for the two of us,” Julie Frates, Pete’s wife, said to ESPN. “We always knew that Pete was going to do something huge for this disease.”
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The crowd at Good Harbor Beach has doubled since the Plunge for Pete last year, Julie Frates said.
Pete’s father, John Frates, also commented to ESPN saying the Ice Bucket Challenge helped Plunge for Pete grow and that the ocean is “essentially a big ice bucket.”
When Frates passed on the still relatively unknown Ice Bucket Challenge to friends in the sports community in July, he didn’t expect the whirlwind viral campaign that resulted. The Ice Bucket Challenge made rounds through Facebook, resulting in some funny videos, some serious and $115 million raised for ALS.
Following the excitement of Plunge for Pete, Frates went to celebrate his 30th birthday at the Patriots-Bills game on Sunday, Dec. 28 at Gillette Stadium. There, he was surprised when all 68,000 people at the stadium, including the football players, sang Happy Birthday to him.
“New England, you can sing,” Frates said on his Twitter page. “Thank you for all the birthday wishes. 68,000 strong!”
Watch Julie and Pete Frates interview with ESPN below:
image via ESPN
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