A Midwinter Night's Dream is an annual gala fundraiser to benefit ALS, started and run entirely by high school students from Northport, NY. The students, myself included, became active in fighting ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease after a second teacher in the district was diagnosed with this terrible disease. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that affects voluntary muscle movements. As neurons die and muscles atrophy, patients are eventually left paralyzed and usually die within 2-5 years of diagnosis from respiratory failure.