“On three? asked Superintendent Joel Aune. “One; two; three!” Some loud whoops and at least one shriek followed.

“That is chilly!” exclaimed Geoff Doy.

Aune, Snoqualmie Valley School District superintendent, and three school board members, Geoff Doy, Tavish MacLean and Marci Busby, got the cold-water treatment Tuesday morning, Aug. 26, when they took part in the ALS Ice Bucket challenge. Several participants donated money to ALS research and awareness organizations.

Aune was challenged by his nephew, Benjamin, and by a friend. “I got to thinking about it,” he said, and decided to get the board involved, too, starting with Doy. MacLean accepted the challenge, and then challenged the principals of the Valley schools that his children attend—Mount Si High School principal John Belcher, Chief Kanim Middle School principal Kirk Dunckel, and Snoqualmie Elementary’s Kerstin Kramer, plus staffer Kirby Corder, who works in the district’s curriculum office. Busby, who also donated, was challenged by the superintendent and her daughter Marissa. She challenged board member Carolyn Simpson and blogger Danna McCall.

“I’m going to pass the challenge on to Ken Hearing, mayor of North Bend. I think he’s a worthy challengee, and it’s for a great cause, so he’s bound to take it up” said Doy.

The Ice Bucket Challenge, currently sweeping social media, is a fundraiser and awareness-booster to fight Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gherig’s disease. ALS is a rare degenerative and generally fatal disease of the nervous system. About 30,000 people in the United States have it.

Learn more about the ALS Association’s challenge at www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html