Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck, all 8 members of Arlington City Council and Arlington City Manager Trey Yelverton took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on Tuesday at Levitt Pavilion in Downtown Arlington to help raise awareness in the fight against Lou Gehrig's Disease.

AISD challenged City Council to participate. In addition to accepting the challenge, individual donations were made to the ALS Association, a non-profit organization that spreads awareness of Lou Gehrig's Disease. More than 5,600 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with ALS each year.

Mayor Cluck called on two great Arlington partners, the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers, to take the challenge.

ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.

To learn more about ALS visit: http://www.alsa.org/