LAGRANGE, IL – April 03, 2024 – For the first time since the inception of its Rick Wiedemer Guiding Light Award, The H Foundation is requesting nominations for the award from the entire lighting industry. Host of the annual Goombay Bash in Chicago, which is the lighting industry’s largest philanthropic event, the foundation has raised more than $12 million for basic science cancer research over more than two decades.
In 2017, The H Foundation created the Guiding Light Award to specifically honor companies and individuals in the lighting community for their consistent and enduring efforts supporting the foundation’s mission to fund basic science research and find a cure for cancer. The inaugural award was presented to lighting industry companies Generation Lighting, Hinkley, Kichler, Quoizel, Satco and WAC. Subsequent recipients have included Lighting One President Gregg Garofalo, Hubbardton Forge CEO Maria Mullen, and WAC Lighting Co-CEOs Dirk & Shelley Wald. In 2022, the award was given posthumously to former Hinkley CEO Rick Wiedemer, for whom the award is now named.
The Rick Wiedemer Guiding Light Award is given annually during the Goombay Bash to an individual or company who exemplifies the leadership qualities that will guide others towards a brighter future in which no one will suffer the hardships of this horrible disease that affects one in three people. It celebrates the community spirit that has used ingenuity to shine a spotlight on and raise money for basic science cancer research. The lighting industry has been an integral supporter The H Foundation and the funds raised for the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center’s basic science research to date, and many members of the lighting industry serve as volunteers and cheerleaders for the cause.
Anyone in the lighting industry may nominate an individual or a company for the Rick Wiedemer Guiding Light Award, regardless of their involvement specifically with The H Foundation or its Goombay Bash, which will take place July 27, 2024, at the AON Grand Ballroom on Chicago’s Navy Pier.
The eligibility requirements for nominees are:
· Must be within the Lighting Industry
· Must demonstrate a strong past and ongoing commitment to supporting cancer research
To submit a nomination, please visit: https://www.hfoundation.org/guiding-light-nomination. All 2024 nominations must be submitted by April 30 and will be reviewed by the Rick Wiedemer Guiding Light Award Committee before the recipient is announced on May 20