J&R Self Storage in Chesham, England, will sponsor a May 16 fundraising event organized by Friends of Frankie, a charity honoring the memory of local man Mark Franklin, who died of kidney cancer in 2007 at age 40. J&R has donated £500 for the event, which will feature a series of eight races, a buffet, a raffle and a disco. Proceeds will benefit Hospice of St. Francis, Kidney Cancer UK and Macmillan Nurses.

The benefit will be held at the Douglas McMinn Centre on East Street from 7 p.m. to midnight. Several other local businesses have also provided sponsorship donations to help cover the cost of running the event, according to the source. Admission is £10.

Hospice of St. Francis provides professional support and care for people with life-shortening illnesses. Established in 2000, Kidney Cancer UK provides information to benefit kidney-cancer patients, their caretakers, medical professionals and scientific researchers. Macmillan Nurses is a support group for cancer patients and their families. The group also funds nurses and other healthcare specialists, and builds cancer-care centers.

Franklin, who went by the nickname Frankie, was diagnosed with kidney cancer in March 2005. He launched the Friends of Frankie charity while participating in a clinical drug trial and campaigned for the National Health Service to introduce cancer drug treatments that were unavailable in England. The group also raised money for charities connected to cancer research and the treatment and care for cancer patients.

As part of a fundraising effort in 2007, Franklin was training to complete the Three Peaks Challenge, which requires participants to summit the three highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales. Franklin died before he could complete the challenge, but family and friends organized a fundraising event in 2008 to finish the climbing feat on his behalf.

The group has continued to organize a large fundraiser every other year. To date, the charity has raised £33,000, the source reported.

Located in the Chess Business Park, J&R serves residential and business customers in Chesham as well as the surrounding communities of Amersham, Chorleywood, The Chalfonts, Gerrards Cross and Great Missenden. It offers self-storage units from 10 square feet up to 400 square feet.

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