Push-Ups forALS
ALS is 100% fatal. There is no cure. But we are closer than ever.
Inspired by "Brother" Frank Albrecht — a teacher who did 65 push-ups every morning, even after his diagnosis. He died of ALS 1 year later.
A community push-up challenge funding real, patient-led research to end ALS. Like the Ice Bucket Challenge — but this time, we finish the job.
Starting October 2026, funds are directed to CureC9 (a 501(c)3 — www.curec9.com)'s unrestricted funds and are 100% tax deductible.
This Fight Belongs to Everyone
Whether you lost someone to ALS, carry the gene, or simply refuse to accept that this disease has no cure — you belong here. 100% of every dollar goes directly to research. No overhead. No middlemen. Just science.
Take the Push-Up Challenge
There are many ways to join the fight against ALS
Donate
100% of donations go directly to ALS/FTD research. We carefully select the most promising research organizations fighting to end this disease.
Form a Team
Schools, workplaces, gyms, families — rally your crew. Team sign-ups and volunteer info available by March 1st.
Do Push-Ups on Social Media
Follow us on IG @pushupsforals for daily challenges. Do push-ups, challenge others, and share on social media to spread awareness.
About ALS
ALS is 100% fatal in ~95% of cases. There is no cure. But we are closer than ever.
Across the United States, approximately 30,000 people are living with ALS at any given time. While most cases occur without a known family history, about 10 percent are inherited. In recent years, researchers have identified more than 20 genes linked to ALS, deepening our understanding of the disease and bringing us closer to targeted treatments and, ultimately, a cure.
Families face limited treatment options and an uncertain future, while researchers race to find answers. Progress is possible, but only with sustained awareness, advocacy, and funding.
Lifesaving ALS Research
Right now, genetic ALS is 100% fatal. But it doesn't have to stay that way. Every dollar you give goes straight to research—real science, led by patients and families who are living this fight every day.
10%
Fatal in all cases
30,000
Americans living with ALS
$65k
Fundraising goal increments
65
Daily push-ups. Every morning. Until he couldn't.
Presented by
Our Progress
Every dollar counts in the fight against ALS
$66,000
Raised
$65,000
Goal
174
Donors
Starting October 2026, funds are directed to CureC9 (a 501(c)3 — www.curec9.com)'s unrestricted funds and are 100% tax deductible.
Join the Challenge
Everyone is welcome — students, teachers, families, and community members. Form a team and make every push-up count.
Form Your Team
Rally your friends, coworkers, or classmates. Any size team is welcome — student, teacher, family, or community.
Set a Push-Up Goal
Commit to a number as a team. Every push-up counts toward your team's total and the overall challenge.
Raise Donations
Ask your network to sponsor your push-ups. All proceeds go directly to carefully selected ALS research organizations.
Event Date
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Location
McCaskey High School Turf Field
Lancaster, PA
Competition Guide
Three rounds. One goal. Every push-up counts toward a cure.
Brother Frank did push-ups every day — the number of his age. He did them at 63. At 64. At 65. He was diagnosed with ALS and died at 66, before he could finish.
Let's help him finish those push-ups.
66 also evokes the ~33,000 people living with ALS in the US right now. 33 × 2 = 66. Every rep counts twice.
Teams
Every team has exactly 6 people. No one gets turned away.
- Sign up in advance with your own team of 6
- Sign up solo — we'll place you on a team
- Show up day-of without a team — we'll find you one
- The very last team formed can have fewer than 6. Every other team: exactly 6.
The 66-Rep Relay
Each person on the team does 11 push-ups as fast as they can, then tags the next teammate. 6 people × 11 push-ups = 66. The fastest team to finish all 66 wins this round.
Last One Standing
No timer. No team score. Just you and gravity. Do push-ups until your arms give out. Modified push-ups count. When you stop, you're done. The last person still going wins. We suggest everyone aim to do at least their age in push-ups!
The 60-Second Blitz
Set a timer for 60 seconds. Every team member does as many push-ups as they can before time runs out. Modified and full push-ups both count. Your team's total is every rep done by every member.
Most Total Push-Ups
All push-ups from all rounds are tallied. The team with the most total push-ups wins.
What Counts as a Push-Up?
Everything counts. We're fighting ALS, not judging your form.
- Full push-ups
- Knee push-ups
- Incline push-ups (hands on a bench or table)
- Wall push-ups
- Any modification that works for your body
Awards
- 🏆Fastest Relay (Team)
- 🏆Last One Standing (Individual & Team)
- 🏆Most Reps in 60-Sec Blitz (Individual & Team)
- 🏆Overall: Most Total Push-Ups (Individual & Team)
- 🏆Outstanding Volunteer (Individual)
Virtual Participation
Can't be there in person? Your team can still compete.
- Record your team doing the competition (any or all three rounds)
- Submit your team's video by 8:00 AM on event day (April 8)
- Your video will be shown on screens at the live event
- Your reps count toward your team's total
Only team submissions accepted — pre-recorded only, no individual entries.
Register for the Facebook event to stream it live and catch up with virtual teams.Fundraising
When your team signs up, we create a personalized Givebutter fundraising page you can share.
- Flat donation — any amount, any time
- Per push-up pledge — pledge an amount for every push-up your team completes
100% of funds go to ALS research
ALS Patients & Accessibility
If you are living with ALS and want to participate, just talk to us. We will modify the competition to fit you.
You can also share your voice at the event:
- Speak live at the event
- Pre-record a message we'll play on the day
- Use AI to deliver a message in your voice — your choice
Every rep counts. However you move, you move the mission forward.
📅 Before the Big Day
In the weeks leading up to April 8, practice competitions will use 33 push-ups (half of 66). Day-of is the full 66. Train up!
Scientific Advisory Board
Our Scientific Advisory Board directs 100% of research funding to the most promising opportunities in familial ALS/FTD. As genetic carriers, scientists, and advocates, they ensure every dollar raised goes where it can make the greatest impact.
Yentli Soto Albrecht, PhD
Yentli Soto Albrecht is an MD-PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania and a carrier of the C9orf72 genetic mutation. Following her father "Brother" Frank's death from C9orf72 ALS in August 2024, she pivoted to neurodegeneration research, developing 11 collaborative C9orf72 projects and the CureC9 program within EverythingALS. She serves as the inaugural End the Legacy Community Science Liaison and is launching the first commercial C9orf72 iPSC biorepository, starting with her father's cells and her own. Dr. Soto Albrecht leverages her triple perspective — genetic carrier, scientist, and physician-in-training — to accelerate therapeutic development for familial ALS/FTD.
Mindy Uhrlaub
Mindy Uhrlaub is a carrier of the fatal C9orf72 genetic mutation. She participates in twenty longitudinal studies of ALS and has testified before the FDA and the NIH about medical rights of genetic carriers. Mindy was nominated onto a committee at the National Academy of Science to write the 2024 report, Living with ALS. Her latest book, Last Nerve: A Memoir of Illness and the Endurance of Family, won the Nonfiction Authors Association's 2025 Nonfiction Book Award. For her ALS advocacy, Uhrlaub also received awards from the Les Turner ALS Foundation, ALS TDI, and the ALS Network.
Jean Swidler
Jean Swidler first became acquainted with ALS when her grandmother passed from it in 1990. Over the coming decades Jean's mother Kathleen was very anxious about developing ALS but she still endured over a year of paralysis before receiving an ALS diagnosis. Following Kathy's passing from C9orf72 ALS, Jean and others created the movement that became Genetic ALS & FTD: End the Legacy and she was appointed its first Executive Director.
Daniel Barvin
Daniel Barvin lost his grandfather, father, aunt, and uncle to genetic ALS/FTD. He has dedicated his career to fighting for those with stories similar to his. Alongside other advocates, he helped create Genetic ALS & FTD: End the Legacy and Coya Therapeutics.
Push-Ups for ALS will co-fund grants with another(s) ALS Research Organization if we receive <$150,000. If more, we'll fund them ourselves.
Our Sponsors
These organizations and individuals make our mission possible. Their generous support ensures that 100% of event proceeds go directly to funding the most promising research in familial ALS/FTD.
Sponsors still accepted for website, Givebutter site, and event signage.
Cargas Systems Inc
Finanta Credit Union
Landis Communities
Laurel Street Mennonite Family
PennMed Trainees Against ALS/FTD
Why Push-Ups?
"Brother" Frank Albrecht—known by this moniker in the community and by his students at McCaskey High School—taught there for decades, touching countless lives with his kindness, dedication, and unwavering strength. He passed away from C9orf72 ALS in 2024, but his spirit lives on in everyone who knew him.
"As long as you're breathing, you can still make changes"
— "Brother" Frank Albrecht
His daughter, Yentli, carries the same genetic mutation. As an MD-PhD student and scientist, she's racing to find a cure—not just for herself, but for everyone fighting this disease. All proceeds from the Push-Up Challenge go directly to carefully selected ALS and FTD research organizations.
The Push-Up Challenge
"Brother" Frank did 65 push-ups every single morning—one for each year of his life when he was diagnosed. He kept going until ALS robbed him of his strength. Now we're doing them in his memory, and to fuel the research that could save lives.
Our Fundraising Goal
We're raising funds in $65K increments. 65 was "Brother" Frank's age when diagnosed. 65 was how many push-ups he did every day, right up until he couldn't anymore.
A Community Standing Up
This started at McCaskey High School in Lancaster, PA — but it's grown beyond one school. Students, families, neighbors, and people across the country are joining because ALS doesn't care where you're from. Neither do we.
Why This Matters
Dr. Yentli Soto Albrecht
MD-PhD Candidate, University of Pennsylvania
Genetic ALS carrier, destined to die of ALS with 95% certainty unless there is a cure
Read her story — "Racing the Clock" · Rare360My father, "Brother" Frank Albrecht, was not just a beloved teacher at McCaskey High School. He was a beacon of strength, resilience, and unwavering commitment to his community.
Every morning, without fail, my father would do his push-ups. It was more than exercise. It was a ritual that symbolized his dedication to discipline, service, and perseverance. Even as ALS gradually took away his ability to move, his spirit remained unbreakable.
In 2024, we lost him to C9orf72 ALS, a genetic form of the disease that runs in our family. The same genetic mutation that took my father lives in me. As a physician scientist pursuing my MD-PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, I've dedicated my career to understanding this disease—not just as a researcher, but as someone living with the knowledge that I carry this fatal mutation.
People who carry these genetic mutations face a 100% fatal disease. But through research, advocacy, and community action, we can change that future.
The Push-Up Challenge honors my father's daily tradition while raising critical funds for ALS and FTD (Frontotemporal Dementia) research. Many genetic mutations, including the one in our family, cause both diseases. Every dollar raised goes directly to cure-focused research led by patients and advised by top scientists who are fighting ALS/FTD in their own lives and families.
My father taught generations of students at McCaskey High School. He showed them what it meant to serve others, to persevere through challenges, and to build a community rooted in compassion. Now, it's our turn to honor his legacy by coming together to fund the research that will end this disease.
This is more than a fundraiser. It's a mission. This started as our family's fight. Now it's yours too. And with your support, we will turn this personal loss into lifesaving breakthroughs.
Dr. Yentli Soto Albrecht
Event Chair and Daughter of Brother Frank Albrecht
"Brother" Frank's Legacy
Learn about "Brother" Frank Albrecht's impact on the McCaskey community
