; Whereas the Chapter was first led and founded by Felice Weiner of Lower Merion, who started the organization because her mother had ALS, and then, in 2016, she herself passed away from ALS as well; Whereas Ellyn Phillips joined the Chapter in 1981 after her husband Alan was diagnosed with ALS and later became, and remains, President of the Chapter; Whereas the Philadelphia Phillies took on ALS in 1984 and have since raised over $17.7 million to Strike Out ALS , including $656,000 at the 2017 Phillies Phestival; Whereas the Chapter provides a long list of services for ALS families, including multidisciplinary clinics at Jefferson University, the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, the Lehigh Valley Health Network, Geisinger Bloomsburg and Wyoming Valley, Meridian Health, and the VA Medical Center in Philadelphia; and Whereas other services of the Chapter include in-home care, an equipment loan closet, education programs, assistive technology and speech devices, nurses and social workers, support groups, and the Mike Kilpatric Van Transportation Program: Now, therefore, be it