Goodyear acknowledged for blood donation, water safety programmes

Goodyear is well known for its tyres, yet more than a few people may be surprised to learn that the company has also been involved in the blood donation business for almost six decades. Since 1952, workers at the US-based firm’s headquarters have donated a total of 182,663 pints of blood – that’s 86,431 litres – for use at local hospitals. These employee donations have benefitted 547,989 patients over the years, and Goodyear’s long-term dedication to blood donation has now earned the company the “2010 Top Corporate Blood Donor Award” from Northern Ohio Red Cross Blood Services. The award was recently presented to Goodyear chief health officer Brent Pawlecki.

“From the beginning, Goodyear has been a part of what makes us exist,” stated Northern Ohio Red Cross Blood Services CEO David Plate. “It is remarkable to find a single sponsor that in 59 years has touched over 500,000 lives. I’m not aware of any other enterprise that has done this before.”

In 2010 alone, Goodyear collected 1,367 pints of blood that provided 4,000 life-saving transfusable products to thousands of patients in local hospitals. “I’m extremely honoured to work with a company that has the support of its employees who help people they don’t even know in a time of unexpected, incredible need,” said Brent Pawlecki.

Goodyear’s headquarters in Akron, Ohio welcomes the Red Cross Bloodmobile every other month. In addition to the blood drives, Goodyear has donated $2.7 million to the Red Cross to use toward various initiatives, including water safety programmes. The company’s involvement here earned it a plaque of recognition from the local chapter of the American Red Cross; this was presented to Faith Stewart, Goodyear’s director of community affairs. “The Learn to Swim water safety program is a strong fit with Goodyear’s charitable focus on safety,” Stewart said. “We are fortunate to have a relationship with the local Red Cross organisation that gives us this opportunity to help provide tools for being safe around water and also provides training for future employment.”