March 28, 2024
Snapshot


Snapshot

Trading ice buckets for skin ink

$5 tattoo event raises money for ALS Association

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DeKALB – Nicholas Misitano wanted to give something back to the community.

“DeKalb has been really good to me and my business,” said Misitano, the owner of DeKalb Tattoo Company, which he opened last year at 817 W. Lincoln Highway, DeKalb.

Inspired by the recent ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Misitano decided to dedicate last Saturday to raising awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

On Saturday, customers at DeKalb Tattoo Company could receive a tattoo in exchange for a minimum $5 donation to the ALS Association. The tattoos had to be selected from a specific collection of designs, each of which took the staff of four tattoo artists an average of 20 minutes to complete.

It took her a while to decide, but Jaquline Wanket of DeKalb finally chose to have a pumpkin tattooed on her right foot.

“She had a hard time deciding,” her mother, Melanie Wanket, said. “It was between a pumpkin and a bird. She texted her friends and they all said the pumpkin. They know her. She really likes Halloween.”

Although it was an easier choice for Tikala Jackson to choose a feather to be tattooed on the front of her shoulder, she needed her friend Tangela Griffin to hold her hand.

“It was burning,” said Jackson, who also has a tattoo on her back. “It’s like a weird hurt, then it’s gone awhile, then it comes back.”

Misitano said he never had an official grand opening for the tattoo parlor, so he decided a charity event was a good way to celebrate his first year in DeKalb.

“I noticed a lot of people were taking interest in ALS so I thought it was a good idea,” he said.