Northport students' project to battle Lou Gehrig's Disease
BY DEBORAH S. MORRIS
deborah.morris@newsday.com


July 17, 2007, 3:57 PM EDT

The Northport High School Honor Society students moved a step closer to having their dream project of raising money to find a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease a reality.

The students' project has been selected as one of the top 25 ideas submitted from around the country to American Express for its members project initiative.

The idea is to have everyday people submit pet project ideas that make a positive impact on the world, and American Express will fund it based on card members' votes.

More than 7,000 entries were submitted nationwide. The top prize is at least $1 million and up to $5 million, American Express officials said.

"It's great and exciting to see we took a chance to enlist in the project," said Don Strasser, the club's advisor. "And we're doing quite well."

A new round of voting runs until Sunday to pick the top 5 ideas. The grand prize winner will be announced Aug. 7. The school supports the disease, ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, because two of its beloved teachers, Chris Pendergast and David Deutsch, are battling the disease. ALS weakens muscles and leads to eventual paralysis and death.

Since 2004, the school's honor society has raised $472,000 for ALS research, awareness and patient assistance. The main fund-raising event is A Midwinter Night's Dream, held in January. The students solicit cash donations, raffle prizes, and silent auction items to benefit The Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins University, Project ALS, and the ALS Association of Greater New York.

Each of the students on the event's committee contacts a corporate sponsor. Tim Rozmus, 16, has American Express on his list. He heard about The Members Project through a commercial featuring Ellen DeGeneres, Alicia Keys, Andre Agassi and Martin Scorsese.

"I figured I could submit the project to get money from American Express. If it got rejected, I could go the more traditional route by just calling them," said Rozmus, a junior.

The contest is open only to American Express card holders, so Gary Rozmus, Tim's father and a card member since 1974, submitted the idea.

Leslie Berland, spokeswoman for American Express, said the top ideas, as rated by card members, were selected and assessed on innovation, feasibility and impact. Some of the other remaining projects include safe drinking water for the world's poor children, plant a million trees for global reforestation and harvest the sun for its energy.

"We will need a whole Long Island effort," Strasser said about the next round of voting. "The kids have been working really hard, going door to door, putting out fliers. We need everyone's help."

American Express card members can log on to membersproject.com to vote.