Bright and early this past Saturday, a group of Austin Air employees joined over 600 other fundraisers to participate in the American Lung Association’s Fight for Air Climb. The event, which took place at One Seneca Tower in Buffalo, is an annual fundraiser for the American Lung Association of the Northeast. Participants ran or walked up thirty-eight flights of stairs in the vertical race.

Team Austin raised over $1600 and the event as a whole brought in over $100,000 to fund ALA initiatives to fight lung disease (the number three cause of death in the US), lung cancer (the leading cause of cancer-related fatalities), asthma (the foremost reason of missed days at school), COPD (another major leading cause of death), and air pollution (the threat that ozone and particle pollution present to millions of people).

Austin Air is a proud supporter of the American Lung Association and their mission to help end tobacco use, reduce the burden on lung disease sufferers and their loved ones, and to improve air quality. There are a variety of ways in which you can help the American Lung Association too, check out their website for more details.