Keeping events honoring tragic loss of life alive
For the first time since 2019, the Vanessa T. Marcotte Foundation 5K Run/ Walk will be an in-person event.
Supporting the organization’s mission of providing violence prevention and safetyawareness programming, the sixth annual fundraiser will return to Princeton’s scenic Wachusett Mountain June 18, starting at 9:30 a.m., after going virtual for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite its location, runners will traverse a mostly flat course that includes just one small hill.
To register, be a sponsor or donate raffle items, visit runforvanessa.org.
Medals will be awarded to top finishers and a post-race party will feature a DJ, raffles, food, drinks and activities for kids.
A virtual option will still be offered. Virtual participants can sign up and get a T-shirt, tune into the opening comments and the official start of the race via Instagram Live, and then run on their own and tag the foundation in the photos they post.
So far, virtual participants from 13 states have registered.
The foundation will also go live with an online silent auction the week of the event so people everywhere can support this worthy cause.
Auction items include autographed footballs from former Patriots players Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, golf packages, a Cape Cod sailing experience, a Lululemon gift basket and gift certificates.
“We’re really excited to be back in person this year,” said foundation co-founder and President Caroline Tocci. “It’s always a fun event and we look forward to seeing people enjoy their walk and run as well as the post-race experience.”
But we can’t forget the tragedy that gave rise to this foundation and fundraiser.
The Vanessa T. Marcotte Foundation was launched in March 2017 by Tocci and Ashley Mcniff, cousin and best friend of Vanessa Marcotte, the Leominster native who was brutally murdered nearly six years ago.
The life of Marcotte, 27, was cut far too short in a case that shocked Princeton, leaving residents of this rural Central Massachusetts town fearing for their safety.
A Boston University graduate working for Google in New York, Vanessa was home visiting her mother on Brooks Station Road on Aug. 7, 2016, when she decided to go for a jog before taking her bus back
The life of Vanessa Marcotte, 27, was cut far too short in a case that shocked Princeton, leaving residents of this rural Central Massachusetts town fearing for their safety.
to New York.
That’s the last time her mother saw her daughter alive.
The young woman was found dead around 8:30 p.m. that day, murdered less than a mile away from her mother’s home and roughly 200 feet into the tree line on a car path, authorities said.
And now, five years after his arrest in connection with that vicious homicide, Angelo Colon- Ortiz is set to go to trial for murder.
Earlier this month, Worcester Superior Court Judge Janet Kenton-walker scheduled a jury trial for Dec. 8, according to court records.
In the spirit of keeping Vanessa Marcotte’s memory alive, all money raised from the 5K enables the foundation to support and work with local organizations in promoting female safety and gender equality.
Project Bold at Girls Inc. of Worcester, which teaches selfdefense and safety, is one recipient, as is Girls Inc.’s Media Literacy, which focuses on the objectification of women in the media and teaches girls how to challenge stereotypes and biases against women in their own lives.
Since its inception, the foundation has trained thousands of women at self- defense workshops and provided funding for youth programs on self- defense, media literacy and empowerment, and funded high school programs on healthy relationships and safety awareness.
The foundation also has produced several all- encompassing violence-prevention programs.
In just the past few weeks, we’ve seen countless innocent individuals become victims of murderous acts, as senseless as the one that took the life of Vanessa Marcotte.
We encourage everyone in our area to help foster Vanessa’s legacy by supporting the foundation established in her name.