Participants sporting shirts with the Casey Power Foundation’s motto, “Your future is calling. Never look back,” at last year’s memorial 5K walk and run.
The Casey Power Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to victims of domestic violence, will host its annual 5K walk and run on Saturday, April 25, at Chestnut Branch Park.
Both the run and foundation are dedicated to the memory of late Mantua resident Casey Power, who was killed by her then-fiance in 2021 during a domestic dispute that turned deadly. He then took his own life. Power is survived by her son, Bentley, who was 4 at the time.
“It’s been five years, which I can’t believe,” said Power’s mother, Maryanne. “Casey would have been 30 on April 1.”
Maryanne created the foundation to prevent the kind of violence that took her daughter. Proceeds from the walk and run will benefit the foundation, as well as Igniting Help, a program that provides survivors with money and clothes, and a new state police unit that specializes in domestic violence cases. Representatives from both groups are expected to be at the 5K.
Access to domestic violence resources will be available at the event, and some of the proceeds will help fund teaching scholarships at Clearview Regional and Washington Township high schools, both of which Casey Power attended.
Mantua has rallied behind the Casey Power Foundation’s mission since its inception, and the latter also gets help from residents and the township government.
“Mantua has been great as well with it,” Maryanne noted. “They show up when they can to help. “She (Casey) would be smiling down on us; she always is. We’re trying to help others avoid this and if they do, help them not become a victim like she did.”
The 5K will begin with check-ins at 8 a.m., an hour before the walk and run. Participants can register on the foundation’s website under the event page. Those who register early will receive a T-shirt printed with the Casey Power Foundation’s logo and its motto: “Your future is calling. Never look back.”
