Madison's Amanda Bernier, Who is Battling ALS, Honored

Nominations continue to roll in for our Heroes are MADE in Madison project.

The honoree selected for December is a well-deserving woman who has given of herself to Madison in two different ways – as a volunteer firefighter and as a health advocate.

Please join MADE in recognizing Amanda Bernier! As soon as Amanda Bernier moved to Madison in 2006, she joined the North Madison Volunteer Fire Co., continuing the volunteerism she started as a teen.

A lifelong helper, Berner explained that “one of the hardest things about my diagnosis [with ALS] was not being able to help people anymore. So I decided that I could spread awareness about ALS.”

To encourage the followers of her popular Amanda’s Angels – ALS Facebook page to donate to the Ice Bucket Challenge, she wrote about what it is like to live with the disease.

Her viral post about breastfeeding her infant daughter Arabella was part of that series. The post caught the attention of The Huffington Post and The Today Show, as well as Madison resident Sharon Clarke.

In her nomination of Bernier for a Heroes are MADE in Madison award, Clarke used the words “inspirational” and “courageous”.

Better words could not have been used to describe Bernier. When the MADE coordinators, along with Clarke, presented the Hero award to Bernier, she described a new realization about helping people: that she was still doing it, just in a different way.

“I am so grateful that people have shared how I have helped them. One lady told me that she was going to commit suicide that night until she read about me and realized that she was strong enough to keep living for her children. I am grateful to be able to help people again.”

MADE is equally grateful to have Amanda as part of our community! Heroes like Amanda Bernier are role models in Madison because of their leadership, grace, and courage.

If you would like to nominate a hero you know, send an email to MADE’s coordinator Catherine Barden at bardenc@madisonct.org with your name, the name of the person you’re nominating, and a short description of what makes him or her a hero. All nominees will be featured on MADE’s website (madeinmadison.org) and monthly winners will receive a special hero-worthy prize.

MADE is accepting nominations throughout the 2015-2016 school year!