Running for Jessie

Saturday, December 22, 2007

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Tom Bassano will leave Santa Monica, Calif. and run 2,600 miles to Daytona Beach.

CITRUS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Tom Bassano didn't know Jessica Lunsford.

But he knew he wanted to do something. And with a daughter roughly the same age, he felt compelled to act.

So starting on Feb. 29, 2008, he will.

Bassano is bringing awareness to child advocacy issues by running from California to Florida. With his "Run for the Innocent,' Bassano hopes to raise awareness and money for the Jessica Lunsford foundation.

"What I want out of this run is for everybody to have one good collective scream to say enough is enough,' said Bassano. "Let's start protecting these children better."

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A longtime runner, Bassano has increased his training while preparing for his coast-to-coast endeavor. Bassano said his plan of running 40 miles a day will allow him to cross the country in 90 days.

"I don't like to say I'm not going to or if I don't make it,' he said. "I want to say I'm going to make it in 90 days."

Bassano watched the kidnapping and subsequent murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in the spring of 2005. Bassano met with Jessica's father Mark Lunsford and offered to help. He decided that his run could become a fundraiser for child advocacy groups.

Since his daughter's murder, Mark Lunsford, has become an activist against sexual offenders and predators.

Basanno has been training for his run by running 20 to 30 miles a day.

Bassano and organizers of his run hope the fundraising aids in the efforts to build a child advocacy center in Citrus County. The group wants to name the center "Jessie's Place.'

"You take a child that's been through a traumatic experience and you're able to bring them into one building instead of going to the police department, going to a lawyer going to a social worker," he said.

Bassano said he will begin his run in Santa Monica, Calif. and reach Daytona Beach hopefully three months later. The run will cover about 2,600 miles.