A new cause, new format: Legal Aid fundraiser Freed to Run returns to Jacksonville
Attorney Mike Freed (left) founder of the Freed to Run fundraiser for Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, and Jim Kowalski, president/CEO of
Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund offers $25,000 challenge match for the Freed to Run Challenge supporting Jacksonville Area Legal Aid
Local philanthropist Delores Barr Weaver has offered a multi-year challenge grant to encourage donations to the Nov. 17-18 Freed to Run Challenge, the proceeds of which will benefit Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s Shelter for Elders endowment to fund legal aid for area seniors facing housing instability. The Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund will match $25,000 in donations to the 2023 Freed to Run Challenge, provided the event raises at least $75,000 from other donors. In addition, over the following two years, the fund will match a gift of up to $25,000 from a single donor each year, dollar-for-dollar, provided that at least $50,000 can be raised from additional donors. The challenge grant is designed to help the Freed to Run Challenge meet its $100,000 fundraising goal each year. Weaver, former co-majority owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, has a history of raising funds through running that goes back to 1990, when she offered a dollar-for-dollar matching challenge grant of up to $50,000 to a group of runners who would compete in the Boston Marathon. All the funds raised would go to the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research, which Weaver had established in 1987 at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in memory of her mother, Claudie Adams Barr, who died of breast cancer.
Mike Freed
Gunster shareholder Mike Freed is a trial lawyer with a wealth of experience in the courtroom and arbitrations, administrative proceedings and other forms of dispute resolution. Board certified in business litigation, his practice spans a wide range of substantive legal disciplines and specialized industries, including corporate governance, education, health care, hospitality, labor and employment, construction, logistics, transportation and receiverships. Freed is also a philanthropist whose giving goes well beyond writing checks. As the founder of Freed To Run, Freed established a six-marathon series that raised $2.25 million to endow a JALA program called the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership that provides civil legal services to hundreds of indigent pediatric patients a year. To achieve permanent funding for this important program, Freed not only ran 36 marathons himself, but also engaged donors and relay teams from virtually every sector of the community to contribute to both the fundraising and awareness. While that initial fundraising goal has been met, Freed is not stopping. He is now working with JALA to establish a powerful new endowment that will safeguard and strengthen JALA’s housing-related legal assistance for indigent seniors. Known as Shelter for Elders, this initiative will be funded through a new event format called the Freed to Run Challenge, which involves walks or runs over a period of 12 or 24 hours. Individuals and relay teams compete to see who can complete the most laps around the Duval County Courthouse during their chosen time frame.
Freed to Run is set to begin November 14
Freed to Run is set to begin Nov. 14 in Tallahassee and finish in Jacksonville Nov. 19, when it is expected to have reached its goal to endow Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership (NFMLP) in perpetuity with $2.25 million raised over six years. The six marathons in the six-day series will each begin at a courthouse along the route, with relay teams running along with event founder and Gunster Shareholder Mike Freed. The final marathon will be Freed’s 36th in six years to support the partnership between JALA and area health-care institutions that provides civil legal aid to children who are chronically or critically ill. Each team is collecting donations that will enable JALA to permanently support civil legal aid to Northeast Florida pediatric patients and their families through the NFMLP. All funds raised are matched at 125 percent by Baptist Health up to $1.25 million.
Freed to Run marathon series expected to reach its $2.25 million goal Nov. 14-19 with a little help from Olympian Garrett Scantling
Olympian Garrett Scantling Proceeds will fully fund an endowment for Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’sNortheast Florida Medical Legal Partnership JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
The annual charity marathon series from Tallahassee to Jacksonville is nearing its $2.25 million goal.
After raising nearly $1.5 million in its first four years, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s largest fundraiser, Freed to Run, is closing in
Freed to Run 5.0 closing in on $2.25 million goal under the leadership of 2021 co-chairs
After raising nearly $1.5 million in its first four years, Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s largest fundraiser, Freed to Run, will be closing in on its $2.25 million goal under the leadership of four newly appointed event co-chairs: Dr. Raoul Sanchez, president of Carithers Pediatric Group; Deno Hicks, managing partner of Converge Public Strategies for Northeast Florida; and attorneys Thomas E. Bishop and John S. Mills of Bishop & Mills.
Not even a pandemic can stop Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s Nov. 16-21 Freed to Run multi-marathon fundraiser
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With more than $1 million raised to endow Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership, Freed to
Changes in store for Freed to Run 4.0 Nov. 16-21
Freed to Run 4.0 , Nov. 16-21, will still feature six marathons in six days from Tallahassee to Jacksonville, but for the first time the sixth and final marathon will be on a Saturday, and the route will include a 14-mile stretch on the Baldwin Trail.
Dr. Paul Pitel of Nemours Children’s Specialty Care to be honored by JALA
Dr. Paul Pitel, who is retiring as longtime chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Nemours Children's Specialty Care in Jacksonville, will be honored by Jacksonville Area Legal Aid during its Bridges to Justice for Children’s Health virtual event, which will be broadcast Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 6:30 p.m. on JALA’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/JaxLegalAid.