JACKSONVILLE, Fla — First a moment of silence and then a race to keep Jacksonville Fire and Rescue captain Thomas Barber's legacy alive.
“I'm glad that people haven’t forgotten and I'm glad today with society, where things can be so polarized that people still care," said assistant chief Richard Reichard.
After 21 years of serving with JFRD, Barber died last month from a medical emergency.
“Just a great individual, great attitude, always in a good mood and he’s truly a people person. He’s the kind of guy you want to come and take care of your family," said Reichard.
Zechariah Cartledge, 12, coordinated a run through his nonprofit called Running 4 Heroes.
“We’re here at the station where he actually worked with. Also, lots of people on his shift that he worked with. We’re going to be doing a mile around this fire station," said Cartledge.
Cartledge has ran over 900 miles in the past two and a half years for those fallen in the line of duty and so far he’s donated $150,000 to 20 injured first responders.
“We love it when we’re able to actually come to the communities because we obviously can’t go to every community because we lose someone just about every night," said Cartledge.
Cartledge says he is happy to be on the frontline and doing a mission that helps others.
“I have lots of time on me. I wanted to do something to help out our community. Even though I'm young and I'm only 12 I wanted to start off doing something amazing," said Cartledge.