ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Progress
Thank you for visiting The ALS Association North Carolina Chapter, previously known as the Jim “Catfish” Hunter Chapter. Our mission is: To discover treatments and a cure for ALS, and to serve, advocate for, and empower people affected by ALS to live their lives to the fullest.
To learn more about ALS and the North Carolina Chapter please visit our homepage [www.alsnc.org]. From here we invite you to become educated about ALS and the services and programs we provide. We hope that you consider ways to get involved and make an impact in the urgent fight for a world without ALS.
To make an immediate impact, visit our DONATE page.
Over 30 years ago our Chapter began serving the ALS community of North Carolina. We were honored to be named after baseball legend Jim “Catfish” Hunter and maintain a strong tie to our history and partnership with the Hunter family. Please read more about his amazing and inspiring life below.
Hertford, N.C.-born Jim “Catfish” Hunter is a baseball legend—five-time World Series champion, eight-time All-Star and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. And by all accounts, the youngest son of eight children was an even better person than he was a baseball player.
"Jim Hunter was more than a Hall of Fame pitcher,” said Bob Sheppard, long-time public address announcer for the New York Yankees. “He was a Hall of Fame human being."
Hunter, who pitched for the Kansas City and Oakland A’s and the New York Yankees during his career, was diagnosed with ALS in 1998 and died from complications of the disease a year later at the age of 53.
In 1999, the Jim “Catfish” Hunter ALS Foundation was founded and his legacy lives on through his family, friends and all who fight ALS in his honor. The mission of the Jim “Catfish” Hunter ALS Foundation is to assist patients and caregivers, thereby easing the burden of ALS and improving quality of life.
In 2000, the Foundation helped The ALS Association North Carolina Chapter by providing start-up funding for vital programs. The North Carolina Chapter of The ALS Association was named in honor of Hunter from 2002-16 before joining all of the other 38 Chapters nationwide in being recognized by its geographical location. The Chapter helped found and continues to support the Jim “Catfish” Hunter ALS Clinic at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.
Today, the Foundation continues to provide necessary support for Persons Living with ALS (pALS), assistance to caregivers, support for the Jim "Catfish” Hunter ALS Clinic in Greenville and they operate an ALS Support Group in the Hertford, North Carolina area.
We are grateful for our long-time partnership with the Hunter family and the Jim “Catfish” Hunter ALS Foundation. For more information about the Jim "Catfish” Hunter ALS Foundation and their important work, please visit their website at www.catfishfoundation.org.
