Written by: Sierra Porter | Staff Writer
Every year, Dutch Bros Coffee holds its annual Drink One for Dane in honor of co-founder Dane Boersma, who passed away from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in 2009. This year, Drink One for Dane took place on Friday, May 17, 2024, with cars lined up around the block in support of finding the cure for ALS.
For every drink sold on this day, the Dutch Bros Foundation will donate to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. MDA is the leading non-profit organization in research, care, advocacy, education and professional programming of ALS. The MDA website quotes President and CEO Donald Wood, “Rare neuromuscular diseases stand as some of the most challenging puzzles in science and medicine today… but at the Muscular Dystrophy Association, thanks to your support, we’re tackling these challenges head-on and we’re seeing results.”
ALS is a disease of the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movements; slowly breaking down motor neurons until they are destroyed. The muscles these motor neurons control become weak and dysfunctional as the neurons dissipate. Those with ALS face muscle weakness, disability and eventual breakdown of mechanisms needed to survive. The causes of the vast majority of ALS cases are still unknown and there is currently no cure — but scientists have hope for the future.
MDA’s science programs are constantly pursuing new methods of research and have made groundbreaking discoveries in the past decade, particularly with ALS. One of the most significant breakthroughs was the discovery that many genes, when flawed, can cause ALS — a first step in figuring out what causes ALS and finding a cure.
These significant research discoveries are all made possible by donations and contributions, like Drink One for Dane.
Chief Marketing Officer at Muscular Dystrophy Association, Morgan Roth is quoted in the Dutch Bros website, “When we lift our cups to Drink One for Dane, we’re not only honoring the legacy of Dane Boersma, we’re actually igniting hope across the ALS and neuromuscular disease communities. We’re telling the world that we believe in the promise of MDA’s research to end ALS and reaffirming our commitment to bold action in the face of a disease that takes too many, too soon. Every beverage fuels our momentum and that momentum fuels our certainty that we can — and will — defeat ALS.”
Last year, the Dutch Bros Foundation raised 2.5 million dollars and one can only hope they exceed that this year. May is also ALS awareness month, so if one wasn’t able to make it to their local Dutch Bros for Drink One for Dane this year, the Dutch Bros website provides a link that allows customers to donate directly to MDA at www.dutchbros.com/drink-one-for-dane.
Help find a cure to end ALS.
Contact the author at howlstaffwriter@wou.edu
