PHOTOS: The mother of a fallen Jacksonville firefighter is keeping her sonโs legacy alive while offering a helping hand to the next generation.
โI felt like this is the perfect opportunity for us to come together again as a community, not only to celebrate Mike [Freelandโs] life,โ Terona Feacher said about her son. โBut to also give back to what we can do here for the community with our young people.โ
Feacher is using a 5K run and walk to make a difference in addition to honoring her son, Mike Freeland, who died while on duty with JFRD in 2021.
โHe always just made people smile around him,โ Feacher said about Mike. โHe was full of love, life and laughter.โ
The first race she is organizing will start and finish outside this Winston Family YMCA at 221 Riverside Avenue on November 15.
Feacher says it is a way to raise money to fund scholarships for students interested in going to a firefighter school or academy.
โOr any type of vocation training just to do something to get ahead in life,โ she said. โ[Mikeโs] life was sacrificed for the life of another, but we come together and celebrate our first responders for the people that they are.โ
Freeland died while on duty in November 2021 from a brain aneurysm. At the time, he was rescuing a driver who had crashed into a utility pole.
Freeland served with JFRD as an engineer for seven years. He was 36 years old. Freeland is remembered as an easy-going guy, and pretty funny.
