Rinnai America Corporation has received the 2010 Corporate Volunteer of the Year Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation for its support of the Foundation’s mission to find a cure for cystic fibrosis (CF). Rinnai received the CF Foundation’s award after serving as a corporate sponsor of the organization’s 2010 "Great Strides" fundraising walk in Peachtree City, GA and hosting a variety of fundraising activities for the CF Foundation at its corporate headquarters in 2010.

This past May, the company sponsored the "Great Strides" walk for a second consecutive year. Rinnai’s involvement with the CF Foundation can be attributed to the efforts of Rinnai Buyer Linda Doenges, whose 7-year-old grandson and 5-year-old granddaughter are battling the disease. Diagnosed with the condition as infants, her grandchildren must take 20-28 pills daily and spend up to two hours each day in special electric vests that help break up the mucus that clogs their lungs and limits their breathing.

The Rinnai team participated in the 'Great Strides' walk in support of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Doenges’ pursuit to raise awareness of the disease led to Rinnai’s initial sponsorship of the CF Foundation’s local Great Strides walk, and the enthusiasm Rinnai employees showed for the event encouraged Doenges to host additional CF Foundation fundraisers at Rinnai including a barbeque luncheon, paper rose sale and silent auction of employee-donated items, restaurant gift cards and Rinnai-donated laptops.

“Rinnai is proud to support the CF Foundation, and we’re thrilled that our employees have really rallied around the cause of cystic fibrosis,” said Brad Sweet, vice president of marketing at Rinnai. “Because CF is something that personally affects a member of the Rinnai family, the cause is very important to us, and we’re happy to know that our involvement is helping to advance CF cure and treatment research.”

Committed to improving the lives of people with cystic fibrosis, the CF Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization in the U.S. devoted to cystic fibrosis care, control and cure development. CF is a life-threatening genetic disease that affects 30,000 adults and children in the U.S. and 70,000 people worldwide. Causing severe lung infections that result in difficulty breathing, adults and children with CF must endure daily breathing treatments and multiple hospitalizations in order to survive.

“While research and drug treatments have increased the average lifespan of CF patients from 5 years to 37 years, there is currently no cure for the disease,” says Scot Rittenbaum, executive director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Georgia Chapter. “With promising new therapies on the horizon, Rinnai’s support is helping to advance these new developments and contributing to life-saving care.”