Fight for Air Climb big success at Allianz Field in St. Paul

The Minnesota Chapter of the American Lung Association hosted its annual Fight for Air Climb on Saturday at Allianz Field in St. Paul to raise money to support lung health.

Dozens of people, many of them firefighters in full gear, rose to the fundraising challenge, climbing more than 800 stairs up the stadium’s inner bowl and then back down again.

Mindee Kastelic with the Minnesota Chapter of the American Lung Association told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the turnout was terrific, and even though fundraising is the primary goal of the event, the association also wants to broaden its message toward education by informing the public that lung disease goes beyond lung cancer related to smoking.

"I’ve got a husband and two kids that have asthma. So people are living with lung disease every day, living healthy lives because of the research of the American Lung Association," Kastelic said.

Others, like Lindsay Alejandrino of Woodbury, came out to support the cause for personal reasons.

"So many teenagers are vaping, so many issues with COVID-19 — there’s just been so many things, and we need clean air and we need to keep our lungs healthy," Alejandrino said. "And I just think this is a great organization. The American Lung Association is just doing awesome things, raising money to really help people because if we can’t breathe, we can’t live."

A spokesperson for ALA told KSTP the fundraising goal this year was $120,000, and before the event was finished, the organization had already exceeded that amount.