Lisa and Dr. Marty D'Amore. She worked with him at the hospital. He was diagnosed April 2009 and passed away January 28 2015.

It is always great to hear of people who are there to help. Lisa and Tim Barnhall are such people! This is their wonderful story. As many of you know, ALS or amyotrophic lateral scierosis is a progressive neurodegenerative that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. It is better known a Lou Gehrigs disease. In 2008 Lisa's Barnhall's first cousin, Jesse Putman, lost his life to ALS in January. He was only 48 years old and had three children. Lisa is a Nuclear Medicine Technologist at Gastonia Hospital and her husband, Tim, is a Captain in the Gastonia Fire Department. They live in Shelby and have a 12 year old son, Hanson. The family are members of Eastside Baptist Church. Shortly after Jesse's death, there was a fundraiser walk to raise money for ALS and Tim and Lisa decided to join in. This is what gave them an idea for their annual ALS fundraiser.
The couple became determined to do some good. They came up the idea of an annual fundraiser dinner and decided to hold the event in their driveway to save money with no overhead. They discovered a recipe for Brazilian steak through a Chef. This Brazilian Steak with baked potato, salad, roll, homemade dessert and a drink of their choice became the menu. The meal was $35 per couple, $20 for a single and $5 for a kids plate. They did it all themselves with the help of Lisa's mom, Pat. Their first dinner began with chairs borrowed from East Side Baptist Church and has now become a yearly event. One hundred or more people come every year. So far, they have raised and contributed close to $30,000 to ALS. All the money goes mostly to ALS patient care and education. In 2010 they added Dr. Marty D'Amore who Lisa worked with. He passed away from ALS earlier this year. It's always amazing what two people can do when wanting to help. Tim and Lisa said, "We are dedicated and feel most fortunate to contribute to help ALS. Hopefully a cure can be eventually found. Meanwhile we can try do everything to help the patient and their families. It is our pleasure." In addition, Lisa volunteered to help test a breast cancer mobile unit from her hospital when it was about to begin. As it turned out and to her surprise it detected that she had breast cancer. That was most fortunate. It now has been three years ago and she is a survivor! This is a great story of the results when people seek to help and do good. If you want a great dinner this coming year, make a reservation at 704-913-6081. Should you want to help their effort, you can send a contribution to the ALS Association, c/o Lisa Barnhall, 120 East Debbie Drive, Shelby, N. C. 28150. May God Bless Tim and Lisa and may their example be followed by many others. After all they have proven it only "takes two"!

M.A. ANDREWS