Cleveland business leader Bob Card, Jr., will serve as honorary chairman of the 2010 “Great Strides: Taking Steps to Cure Cystic Fibrosis,” according to campaign officials at Lee University. The tenth annual walk and 5K road race will be held March 27.
“Bob Card Jr. is the perfect person to lead our Great Strides project this year,” said Lee president Paul Conn in making the announcement. “No one in this community is more highly respected as a leader who ‘gives back’ to his hometown in so many ways. He is a great friend of Lee University, and we are thrilled that he will be working with us in this important effort.”
Mr. Card, a Cleveland native, is founder and owner of Easy Auto and Sunrise Acceptance.
A long-time leader in the automobile industry and former owner of Bob Card Ford, Mr. Card received the M.C. Headrick Free Enterprise Award, the highest honor given annually by the Cleveland/Bradley County Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Card has remained highly involved in the local community and was recognized for his efforts by the United Way as a William F. Johnson Community Service Award Winner. He currently serves on the Industrial Development Board of Cleveland and the Cleveland Health and Education Facilities Board, previously leading both as chairman for 12 years. Mr. Card also serves as co-chairman of the Alexis deToqueville Society of Bradley County United Way and is a member of the Cleveland Business Roundtable, Kiwanis Club and McCallie School Board of Trustees.
“The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is a very worthy cause,” said Mr. Card. “The Great Strides walk and run provide a terrific opportunity for Cleveland individuals and organizations to get involved. This community has raised over $364,000 for CF research in the past nine years, and it makes a difference.”
Cystic fibrosis is a complex genetic disease which damages and eventually destroys the lungs of patients. About 30,000 children and young adults in the United States have been diagnosed with the disorder. Currently there is no cure.
The Great Strides event will mobilize hundreds of community participants and Lee University students to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In 2009, the event drew 250 walkers, 300 5K runners, 35 “fun run” participants and over 80 volunteers to the downtown festivities. More than $64,000 was raised for CF research.
The Cleveland Great Strides is sponsored jointly by Lee University students and a group of community volunteers. Serving with Mr. Card to lead the effort are Lee administrators Dr. Mike Hayes, assistant vice president of student development, and Vanessa Hammond, who directs the school’s office of grants.
The 65 Roses 5K road race will be directed by Dr. Bill Estes, a department chair in the Helen DeVos College of Education at Lee.
The route for the 2010 walk and 5K run (3.1 miles) will begin and end on the Lee campus and will travel throughout Cleveland’s historic downtown area. The road race begins at 8:30 a.m. and the walk at 10 a.m.
Great Strides is a national event for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, raising a total $35 million in 2009 at over 600 walk sites across the country.
According to Tiffany Kerns, east Tennessee special events coordinator for the CF Foundation, “research funded by the CF Foundation is making a difference. There are now more CF therapies than ever before, and the CF Foundation’s care center network has been recognized by the National Institutes of Health as a model for delivering care for a chronic disease. The outlook for people with cystic fibrosis continues to improve steadily each year. The median age of survival for those with CF has risen to over 37 years -- that’s an increase of over five years just since 2002.”
More information about the Cleveland Great Strides is available by calling Rosie Holsinger, walk coordinator, at 614-8406 or at the local Great Strides website at www.leeuniversity.edu/cf.