Main Street America to Participate in Charity Event

Breast cancer research will benefit May 14 when the Research Is The Answer Caring And Sharing Hope 5 K Walk and Run will be held in the Tinseltown area of Jacksonville, Fla. The start and finish lines will be at the headquarters of The Main Street America Group, 4601 Touchton Road East, Jacksonville.

RISC sponsors this annual fundraiser, which includes separate 5K runs for men and women, as well as a 1K fun walk/run, for local 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) non-profit organizations as a turnkey fundraising opportunity. All event costs are being underwritten by The RITA Foundation, Inc., 1st Place Sports and the event’s sponsors: Shands Jacksonville, Key Hyundai, CenterBank of Jacksonville, The Main Street America Group and LongHorn Steakhouse.

Participating non-profit organizations are guaranteed to receive 100 percent of the money raised by their team members through sponsor pledges. Additionally, local companies can form teams and designate which non-profit organization is to receive all money raised.

Since RITA is an all-volunteer organization, with no salaries and no overhead, it has been able to donate 100 percent of its proceeds from all fundraisers. Donations-to-date exceed $1.18 million. All of this money has been donated to local non-profit organizations as unrestricted grants. RITA’s 2005 fundraising goal is $400,000.

Entry forms for the May 14 RITA CASH 5K and 1K events are available at all 1st Place Sports locations in Jacksonville, or via www.1stplacesports.com. Sponsor forms may be obtained from The RITA Foundation by calling Charles Jantz, RITA’s volunteer chairman, at (904) 363-1493, or via e-mail: ritafoundation@bellsouth.net

The Main Street America Group, with offices in Jacksonville and Keene, N.H., operates three property and casualty insurance carriers: National Grange Mutual Insurance Company, Old Dominion Insurance Company and Main Street America Assurance Company.