Bridgestone Australia Lights up for Leukaemia

Bridgestone Australia has underlined its long-standing support for the Leukaemia Foundation with Bridgestone Australia employees and their families taking part in the inaugural ‘Light the Night’ celebrations. ‘Light the Night’ events were held in Brisbane, Cairns, Perth and Adelaide, with the colourful processions raising awareness and funds for the Leukaemia Foundation.

A 60-strong Bridgestone team joined around a crowd of more than two thousand to walk along the banks of the River Torrens in Adelaide, carrying gold balloons to remember loved ones, white balloons to celebrate surviving a blood cancer and blue balloons to give hope to patients living with leukaemia. One of those carrying a gold balloon was Bridgestone Australia’s Andrew Moffatt. “My father-in-law passed away from Leukaemia a few years ago, so my wife Norma and I can understand what the families go through under such circumstances,” said Moffatt. “We believe it’s very important for companies like ours to show support for the Leukaemia Foundation. We believe we can make a difference by giving such support, so that’s what we’re doing.”

Also among the Bridgestone walkers were Shojiro ‘Shawn’ Hara, Bridgestone Australia’s incoming Chairman and CEO, and outgoing CEO Mac Ohashi, who is moving back to Japan to take up a new Director position as head of Bridgestone’s Specialty Tyre Division. “Bridgestone has been a proud supporter of the Leukaemia Foundation for more than a decade through events such as Shave for a Cure and we’re also the major sponsor of the Foundation’s Patient Transport cars,” Ohashi said. “It’s great that so many Bridgestone employees were able to take part in the inaugural ‘Light the Night’ walk. Many of our people have been touched in some way by Leukaemia so it’s great that we can show our support in such a visual way.”

As of January 2009, the Foundation will be the sole charity organisation to benefit from Bridgestone’s fundraising activities. “We are very much delighted to be formalising such a wonderful relationship with the Leukaemia Foundation,” said Hara. “I believe it is very important that our employees get involved in activities such as ‘Light the Night’ to really demonstrate our support for the Foundation and for people with leukaemia and their families.”