Tracy Kimberlin, president/CEO of the Convention & Visitors Bureau, accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge issued by Matt Gifford, general manager of the Springfield Cardinals.

Before the water flew Friday morning, Kimberlin stood in front of the CVB offices and issued an Ice Bucket Challenge to Katie Steele Danner, director of the Missouri Division of Tourism; Ross Summers, director of the Branson CVB; and Randy Blackwood director of athletic and entertainment facilities at Missouri State University and chair of the CVB board of directors.

That was followed by CVB staff gleefully slamming Kimberlin with bucket after bucket of cold water.

More than $53 million has been raised for the ALS Association by the Ice Bucket Challenge since it began July 29.

The ALS Association’s mission includes providing care services to assist people with ALS and their families through a network of chapters working in communities across the nation and a global research program focused on the discovery of treatments and eventually a cure for the disease.

The association’s public policy efforts empower people to advance public policies in the nation’s capitol that respond to the needs of people with ALS.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed and eventually die.

Most commonly, ALS strikes people between the ages of 40 and 70, and as many as 30,000 Americans have the disease at any given time.

If you are interested in donating to the ALS association in support of research for a cure, visit http://www.alsa.org/donate.