ACCJ Governor and Community Service Advisory Council member Jeffrey Shimamoto leading the walk, together with U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission James Zumwalt, ACCJ President Tom Whitson and Chubu Chapter Vice President Chris Zarodkiewicz
Undeterred by the rain, participants of the 19th Nagoya Walkathon complete four 1.25 km laps of Tsuruma Park, raising near 7 million yen for charity.
Walkathon Committee Chair Steve Burson, ACCJ President Tom Whitson and Nagoya City Deputy Mayor Satoshi Onishi at the pre-walkathon Welcome Reception at the Hilton Nagoya.
This was the 19th Annual Walkathon, and while attendance levels did suffer due to the rain, the event set a record for the largest volunteer attendance yet—more than 250 people volunteered their time on this day to make the event a ringing success (in the photos volunteers are in the yellow t-shirts).
Participants were encouraged to walk for charity by completing four 1.25 kilometer laps of Tsuruma Park, while receiving different colored wrist bands for each lap completed. Proceeds taken from the 2,000 yen tickets for walking, for which participants received a well-designed Walkathon t-shirt, went to local organizations including orphanages, the homeless, victims of child abuse, service dogs, the physically and mentally challenged and many other needy people. Fourteen of the recipient charities also participated in the event this year, and helped us to educate the Chubu community about the nature of charity work and its importance to all our lives.
This year’s special addition was IBM Japan’s “IBM On Demand Community” project which enabled kids to enjoy science in the park, and, as per tradition, Boeing Japan had the boys and girls making paper airplanes and “fizzing” rocket launches.
Other children’s activities included a stamp rally among the charities, face painting, a beads corner, bingo in English, animal balloons, and overall fun activities regardless of age.
In addition to interactive activities, the stage was action packed from start to finish with the best musicians and performers in Nagoya featured, along with three raffles that drew in the audience for their chance to win return air tickets overseas.
It was a truly fantastic day. Great people, in Nagoya, supporting great causes and great smiles—all day long. The end result should be 6-7 million yen in contributions to local Chubu charities and we are all lining up to be involved again next year in the 20th Nagoya Walkathon!
