Page 16 - First Coast Vol 4 No 1

Freed to Run 2.0
Raises $400K
for Jacksonville Area Legal Aid
JALA CEO JIM KOWALSKI, MIKE FREED, JUDGE STEVEN FAHLGREN AND JUDGE HUGH CARITHERS CROSS THE FREED-TO-RUN FINISH LINE. | PHOTO COURTESY OF AINSLEY PHOTOGRAPHY
BY NANCY KINNALLY
Afundraising e ort like no other, Freed to Run started in 2017 with one man – Gunster shareholder Mike Freed – and explod- ed in 2018 into a community-wide, 157-mile-long celebration of philanthropy bene ting the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid’s Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership to the tune of $414,000.
For the second year in a row, Freed ran along U.S. Highway 90 from courthouse to courthouse, starting at the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee and ending at the Duval County Courthouse in downtown Jacksonville, completing six marathons in six days.
But this time he was not alone.
More than 100 runners spread across 17 relay teams ran all or part of one marathon along the route Dec. 2-7, with each team collecting pledges and Baptist Hospital matching all the money raised at 125 per- cent.
e proceeds from Freed to Run 2.0 will go toward a planned $2.25 million endowment for the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partner- ship, through which JALA provides free civil legal aid to pediatric pa- tients and their families when referred by one of several participating Northeast Florida health-care institutions. rough the partnership, about 200 children a year get help with access to health care, safe hous- ing, special education and other services essential to their well-being.
e teams represented Jacksonville-area law rms, businesses, uni- versities and organizations, as well as local judges and JALA sta and board members.
Freed to Run 2.0 tapped into an outpouring for civil legal aid that even included a friendly rivalry between the o ces of the Fourth Cir- cuit public defender and state attorney.
It was ... a great experience to run with and to unite with our normal
ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · FIRST COAST · VOL. 4 NO. 1 16
adversaries in the courtroom to achieve a uni ed goal.”
– Assistant Public Defender J. Owen Schmidt
Assistant Public Defender J. Owen Schmidt was proud that his team, e Defenders, raised more than $11,500 and bested the State Attorney’s O ce.
“We were happy to partner with JALA and the legal community in the e ort to provide needed legal services for children and their families who have pediatric medical condi- tions,” Schmidt said. “It was in particular a great experience to run with and to unite with our normal adversaries in the courtroom to achieve a uni ed goal. We look forward to de- fending our title in the years to come.”