Next Wednesday, May 25, Gaspare Ristorante in Phinney Ridge will join dozens of businesses all across Seattle to donate a portion of their proceeds to World MS Day. The money will be used to buy “The MS Children’s Book,” for children whose lives are affected by MS in some way.
Restaurants, bars, hair salons and other businesses are participating.
The money will be used to buy children’s books which help parents explain multiple Sclerosis (MS) for kids who either have MS or a parent who does. All profits from those book sales will go to three MS charities: the National Pediatric MS Center, The National MS Society, and CCSVI Alliance.
The event is being organized by University of Washington business student and Seattle resident William Khazaal. William was diagnosed with MS in 2009.
MS is a neurological disorder where the immune system attacks the central nervous system – the part of the body that controls everything one does. Symptoms range from dizziness and fatigue, to blindness and paralysis. In most cases, the longer one has MS, worse it gets. For some, the disease is fatal. There is no cure. For reasons unknown, Seattle has more people with MS per capita than almost anywhere in the world.
Khazaal has two young children. When he was diagnosed, his five-year-old Gabriel (four at the time) was terrified. He wondered aloud “daddy is going to die” and “I’m going to get it too”. Whenever his father was having a bad MS day and didn’t have the energy to play with him, Gabriel thought he’d something wrong and that his father was upset with him. Khazaal realized how difficult it was to talk about MS with his son, and soon learned that was the case for most parents with MS.
Using adversity as his muse, Khazaal, along with a group of five fellow classmates at UW, created MS Children’s Book – a poetically written and whimsically illustrated children’s book describing MS to kids in a way they can understand. 100% of the profits from the book’s sales will be donated to the fight against MS, and the group is working as volunteers without compensation for their efforts.
The goal is to sell and donate 10,000 books while raising $100,000 toward finding a cure. Books can be purchased or donated to a child affected MS on behalf of the purchaser.
Click here for the full roster of Seattle businesses participating in World MS Day.
