Local businesses in the region of East Bay, California, are going to support one of the most important events organized by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). The financial support granted by the East Bay businesses will be used in the 2015 East Bay Light The Night Walk, an event that takes place across the country to remember blood cancer patients. LLS is the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer, and invests in breakthrough research to treat lymphoma and leukemia as well as to help patients gain access to necessary medication.
The organization announced that Astex Pharmaceuticals, Pacific Service Credit Union, Wells Fargo, Vistar and Destination Wealth Management have signed on as $10,000 sponsors, while Performance Foodservice and Diablo Valley Oncology entered as $5,000 sponsors.
“We are beyond grateful to all of our sponsors for their generous contributions to LLS,” the campaign’s director, Victoria Gallagher, stated in a press release. “Their support helps LLS fund critical research efforts and provide assistance to the families in our community dealing with a blood cancer diagnosis. Our sponsors are truly enabling LLS to save lives not someday, but today.”
Light The Night is an annual fundraising event, as well as a non-competitive way of remembering everyone fighting blood cancer that brings hope to all in the community. Patients, families, loved ones, colleagues and others close to the disease form fundraising teams while millions of people throughout the country also help by consuming or donating at one of the retail outlet partners. The walk is named after the lanterns that are carried by participants. Anyone can participate in the two-mile walk, carrying a white lantern to represent a disease survivor, a red lantern for supporters of the cause, or a gold one in memory of someone who died due to blood cancer.
The event, which is now in its seventh edition, is held not only to fundraise for research and patient programs, but also to raise awareness about the importance of finding cures and ensuring access to treatments for blood cancer patients. Over $1 billion has been raised through the walks that occur in numerous locations throughout the U.S. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society supports research projects focused on blood cancer and believes that these efforts are contributing to improve survival rates.
However, blood cancer remains a potentially fatal disease. For this reason, the main goal of the organization is to find cures for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, improving the quality of life of patients and their families. The 2015 East Bay Light The Night Walk will be held on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 5 p.m. P.T., at Civic Park in Walnut Creek, California, with various other dates in a long list of participating cities. Anyone can form a Light The Night team. To learn more, contact The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Greater Bay Area Chapter at 415-625-1100 or visit www.lightthenight.org/gba.
The businesses in East Bay are not the only ones to support the event in California, demonstrating the importance of the walk’s cause among communities there. In Silicon Valley, local businesses also became sponsors of the Peninsula-Palo Alto Light The Night Walk, which took place Oct. 17th. Likewise, several businesses in Napa Valley pledged their support for the local Light the Night Walk, which took place Sept. 26th at Veterans Memorial Park in Downtown Napa.
