Larry Freeman

When Larry Freeman’s father died prematurely at 63 in their hometown, McCrory, the son went looking for a nonprofit with the potential to prevent similar tragedies: a group to offer free health screenings regularly, saving lives.

He couldn’t find that organization, so he created it.

“My dad’s untimely death shook our family, and from his passing I was able to turn my pain into passion and transform these ideas into action,” said Freeman, founder and CEO of Synergy Saturday Inc.

Synergy Saturday, named for the day and the coordination that bring the screenings together, is “an interprofessional pop-up style health screening event” that performed 2,657 screenings in 2019, up from just 200 in 2015, its first year. The group focuses on some of the most medically underserved regions of the state.

The group was named Minority Support Organization of the Year by the Little Rock Regional Chamber in 2019, recognized as a debt-free charity with a new mobile health screening unit and a broadening mission.

Freeman, a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas, notes that Arkansas ranks among the top five states for heart disease in black and white citizens, and in the top 10 states for lethal diabetes in both races.

“I studied biology; I know what these conditions do to patients,” Freeman said. “Actually my greatest accomplishment is founding and building Synergy Saturday. It cuts out the red tape and meets people where they truly are. It’s more than just a regular nonprofit. It’s a solution organization, an awareness organization. We educate people about their numbers.”

As inspirations, he cites his hardworking parents and three chief executives that he admires: Sam Walton of Walmart for his humble leadership; Redbox founder Gregg Kaplan for innovation and tech savvy; and Herb Alpert, the bandleader, trumpeter and eventually CEO of A&M Records, a label “that launched careers for his friends and created wealth for them.”

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