Before Arthur Cohen was diagnosed with ALS in 2013, making pickles was just a hobby. He had worked for years perfecting a recipe for pickles made with cucumbers grown in his garden in his spare time. However, when he had to leave his job as a professional photographer due to the progression of his disease, he turned to his longtime hobby to raise money for ALS research.
Arthur began jarring and selling his pickles under the brand names “Pickals,” with the motto “It’s crunch time for a cure.” All of the proceeds supported ALS organizations, including the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI). His pickles eventually became so popular that they soon needed extra volunteers to help with production, and ended up contracting a pickle factory to produce them to meet the high demand.
That’s when Bill McEntee and Patriot Pickle stepped in. Bill, the owner of Patriot Pickle, is a pickle manufacturer based in Wayne, NJ. When Arthur and his family approached him about helping to scale the Pickals operation, Bill was immediately interested – both to help a good cause, and because he had a personal ALS connection of his own.
“I had a very close friend who passed away at 50 years old, from ALS,” says Bill. “So, I said ‘absolutely, what can we do?’ Arthur came in with three or four of his friends and we put on aprons, coats, hairnets, brought them into production, and we started making pickles for Arthur's cause.”
Soon, Arthur and the Pickals team were coming into Patriot Pickle once a week to jar and label pickles for sale at area farmers markets, grocery stores, and online. The effort lasted for years, raising thousands of dollars for ALS research. Bill says he remembers those days as fun times, with Arthur’s infectious enthusiasm encouraging a sense of inspiration.
“Arthur’s sense of humor was tremendous and positive throughout the whole process,” remembers Bill. “He would come in with his whole team, and it was like a party. We had a lot of fun doing it. But, eventually, he started coming in in a wheelchair when he couldn't walk anymore. We had a couple of guys lift him up to get him up the stairs and into production. He still had a blast, and we had a blast doing it. We were all accomplishing something. It was pretty special.”
Sadly, Arthur passed away in 2017. While production of the Pickals pickle brand began to wind down after Arthur’s passing, Bill knew he still wanted to help support ALS research. While the company would no longer be producing Arthur’s Pickals, he decided to donate a percentage of the proceeds from two lines of Patriot’s own pickles. These pickles – sold under the brand names Natural Harvest and Crisp Pickles – can be found at delis and supermarkets throughout the New York and New Jersey areas.
“What we've done is we incorporated the Pickals logo onto our retail labels, and we give back a percentage of sales to ALS,” he says. “This year I think we donated about $20,000 to two different organizations. Janet Cohen, Arthur’s wife, is still in charge of where we donate every year.”
Even as things have changed over the years, Bill says he’s still dedicated to supporting ALS research –inspired by watching both Arthur and his own friend’s experience living with the disease.
“Having a friend go through ALS and seeing him deteriorate through the process was just heartbreaking,” says Bill. “I saw him go from having trouble cutting a steak to being in a wheelchair to not being able to move his body at all. I lived through that with my friend, and then I met Arthur when he was still in great shape, able to communicate, talk, and walk a little. Not having a cure for something like that today, with everything we can do, is unacceptable. We all have to pitch in and play our part to give back and do whatever we can do to support this cause.”
What to do next: