Kyle Wagenaar and Megan Getz are excited to get the ALS selfie challenge started Monday. The challenge for this year is in lieu of Hat High's basketball game where teams wear purple and proceeds go to the ALS Society of Alberta.--NEWS PHOTO KELLEN TANIGUCHI
ktaniguchi@medicinehatnews.com@@kellentaniguchi
Medicine Hat High School’s basketball teams won’t be able to wear purple on the court to support Karen’s Purple Shirt Party this year, but the school is challenging staff and students at all junior high and high schools in the division to a selfie challenge to raise awareness for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Hat High wore purple for a game in the last two seasons, but with no school sports this year it wasn’t able to fill the bleachers with purple for a third straight year. Karen’s Purple Shirt Party is in memory of Karen Wagenaar, a supporter of MHHS basketball who had two sons play for the team.
“This year because of COVID, we couldn’t have the basketball game and we were really upset about that, but we tried to think of a way that we could still do something, so we decided to do this selfie challenge. So, it’s kind of a substitute for the time being until we can have that big basketball game again,” said Megan Getz, an organizer of the selfie challenge and phys-ed teacher at Hat High.
The selfie challenge starts Monday and runs through April 30. People are challenged to find the ALS selfie filter on Instagram or Facebook and post a selfie of them with it. The challenge includes tagging three friends on your selfie to participate and to make a donation to the ALS Society of Alberta if you want to. Hat High will also have a purple day on Thursday where students are challenged to wear purple to school.
Getz says the premise of the challenge came from the ALS ice bucket challenge that has previously gone viral.
“We just changed it a little bit and made it a bit more accessible,” she said. “It’s really easy to take a selfie, people take them all the time, so why not take one and make it mean something.”
In the past, all money made at the basketball game from tickets, concessions and purple shirts was donated to the society, including $3,007.05 last year and $1,190 the year before.
“To keep it going this year, Megan and Chad (Watson), I can’t thank them enough for keeping it going because we didn’t really know what was going to happen,” said Kyle Wagenaar, one of Karen’s sons. “It means a lot and I wish I could say more.”
Getz says anyone can get involved with the selfie challenge because the more people who take part, the more awareness there will be for ALS. She adds anyone who takes part in the selfie challenge will be entered into a draw to win a prize.
“It’s one of those things where ALS touches the lives of everyone,” she said. “Someone you know might be impacted by ALS at some point, so it’s a really great cause to get behind and the more people we can get raising awareness that would be really awesome.”
Donations can be made online or you can purchase a Karen’s Purple Shirt Party shirt online with all proceeds going to the ALS Society of Alberta. Both links will be available on the MHHS basketball website and you can purchase a Karen’s Purple Shirt part shirt at https://purpleshirtparty.itemorder.com/sale.
