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Fundraising climb nets more than $165,000 in Oakbrook Terrace
Wayne English climbs up the stairs at the American Lung Association Flight for Air Climb fundraiser. | Rob Hart~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: April 22, 2013 2:44AM
OAKBROOK TERRACE — About 800 participants climbed stairs Sunday at the Oakbrook Terrace Tower to raise more than $165,000 for the American Lung Foundation in its annual Fight for Air Climb.
“It was a great event,” said Erin Petschow, special events manager for the American Lung Association in Greater Chicago. “There were many family and corporate teams who were climbing for loved ones affected by lung disease as a way to honor them.”
Petschow said more than 20 fire and police departments participated in the climb. Firefighters took to the 680 stairs of the 31-story office building wearing full gear.
The Oakbrook Terrace Tower hosted the first Illinois stair climb in the 1980s, the American Lung Association Tackle the Tower, Petschow said. That event vanished for a few years, but returned in 1990.
Money raised is used to fund research to end lung disease, including lung cancer, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Sometimes called a “vertical road race,” teams and individual participants were able to use the climb as a fitness target or as a race against others.
Donations for the Fight for Air Climb can be sent to: American Lung Association, Attn: Fight for Air Climb at Oakbrook Terrace Tower, 55 W. Wacker Drive, Suite 800, Chicago IL 60601.~.
