Although Phi Delta Theta’s Sunday night philanthropy event lacked in size, it was full of entertainment.
The Colorado State University chapter of Phi Delta Theta hosted a fundraising concert featuring country artist and former “Bachelorette” contestant Luke Pell in the Lory Student Center Grand Ballroom for the Live Like Lou Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps supports the families ofAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patients while also funding ALS research.
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The concert hosted about 100 people and started after a 20-minute delay. To keep the crowd entertained, the event staff had an improvised yodeling contest, in reference to the Walmart yodeling kid. The whole event was a small, relaxed affair; Pell himself even compared it to calm campfire.
ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative disease consisting of many neurological diseases, targeting motor neurons which are responsible for voluntary muscle movement. The disease is nicknamed Lou Gehrig’s disease after the famous Yankee’s baseball player of the same name, who was of the greatest slugger’s of his day.
Once these motor neurons begin to die, muscles will begin to twitch uncontrollably before atrophying, leading to the loss of voluntary muscle functions like speaking, eating, moving and eventually the ability to breathe. The majority of ALS patients succumb to respiratory failure within 3-5 years.
Though rare, according to the ALS Association, a little over 6,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each
year. Between 14,000-15,000 Americans currently have ALS, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Pell played several of his more noteworthy songs including two unreleased singles and even performed covers of Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Wanna Be” and Tim McGraw’s “Something Like That.” In-between songs, Pell took brief moments to talk about his experiences in the military, past love interests and his experiences chasing a music career.
Ty Davis can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @tydavisACW.
