Article published June 30, 2006
Men sit high for cause of charity
JANET SPENCER, Staff Writer
It may not be a bird, a plane or even Superman flying into Duncan to promote his new movie.
But folks in the area of Highway 290 and I-85 are sure to be looking skyward, beginning at 8 a.m. today.
The focus will be on Allen Freeman and Randy Hollifield, both of whom will be perched on the ledge of a billboard for 24 hours.
The more attention they draw, the better the reward -- for charity -- they said.
Freeman, a captain with the Spartanburg County Detention Facility, previously has spent about 100 hours on the ledge for charities.
He agreed to join Capt. Hollifield with the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office. Hollifield is a first-time ledge sitter who thought the climb would be a good idea.
“So we’ll see how anxious Randy is to go up again after 8 a.m. Saturday,” said Freeman, who sat on billboards for 48-hour intervals to earn donations for Special Olympics.
The goal today and overnight is to raise $5,000 to support Alex’s Lemonade Stand, a national effort for pediatric cancer research.
Alex Scott, who was diagnosed with cancer shortly after birth, started the drive when she was 4 years old, and annually sold lemonade at her neighborhood stand until she died of cancer at age 8.
Freeman said he recently talked with Alex's family members in Pennsylvania, headquarters for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
They were unaware of any other billboard-sitting event to support the cause Alex started, Freeman said.
“We may be a first to go up on a billboard for Alex's Lemonade Stand, but we are more than happy to be helping ensure that what this child started continues,” he said.
The men have set another goal of raising $5,000 on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., when local law enforcement officers will sell lemonade and take donations on the ground.
The activities both days take place in front of McDonalds.
The men prepared by packing cell phones to call for contributions, a bucket and rope to draw donations to the ledge, insect repellants, straw hats, sunscreen, umbrellas and other heat-fighting gear.
“We’ll have a public address system to work the crowd. We want to keep them interested in what we’re doing,” Freeman said.
Freeman and Hollifield are friends, although they say the challenge could cause a strain.
“Unfortunately, I listened to him, and he talked me into this,” Hollifield said, turning around the credit Freeman gave him for the idea of scaling the billboard.
“But when you have a friend, and he tells you something’s a good idea, you gotta believe him,” he said.
The officers have also been joking about their endurance levels. Going back and forth about how to get special chairs designed for the elderly up on the roost and bantering about who will need his nitroglycerin medication first, the men said it’s a fun event.
But they know it’s very serious, too.
“We will remember that a sick little girl started collecting money for research. We want to keep this going. It’s only a little time we will be sparing,” Hollifield said.
The annual drive stirs the officers’ emotions, because their children are healthy.
“Sometimes, we take that for granted. We don't know what parents and sick children are experiencing -- what they go through because of cancer. Ours is only a small part of the effort to help,” Hollifield said.
Janet Spencer can be reached at 562-7222 or janet.spencer@shj.com.