Kresser Memorial 5K carries on legacy of community service
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STEUBENVILLE -- The location has changed, but the goals of the Suzanne Kresser Memorial 5K Run and Walk have not.
The annual event helps raise money for the United Way of Jefferson County and ensures Kresser's memory and what she meant to the community will continue to inspire others to become involved for years to come.
"It's important to carry on her legacy, because she was a very big volunteer in the community," Linda Slowikowski, Kresser's mother, said during Saturday's sixth annual event. "She supported as many things as she could as a single person, and she was always interested in helping people.
"Even when she was a young child, if her friends had trouble, she was always there for them. She always wanted to help, and would listen to their problems," she said.
Since its inception, the race has been held in Jim Wood Park in the city's West End. This year's event moved downtown, with the registration area and finish line set up outside the United Way's office at 511 N. Fourth St. It followed a flat course that began at First Westminster Presbyterian Church, a change that many participants welcomed.
Marci Crawford, the United Way's executive director, said the new route directed the 100 runners and walkers past several of the organizations the United Way serves.
"Being at our doorstep, there is a difference," she said. "There's a good feeling about that. Suzanne's family is here. She gave so much to the community. She has built a legacy, and that's what I need to build on."
Kresser served as the executive director of the United Way for seven years and earned a spot in the organization's Jefferson Society Hall of Fame.
A graduate of Toronto High School, Ohio University and the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, Kresser also served as a board member on the Eastern Gateway Community College and Trinity Health System foundations. She was a member of the OSU Extension Advisory Committee; a lifetime member of ABATE of Ohio, Region 1; a longtime member and former president of the Steubenville Rotary Club, earning multiple Paul Harris Fellowships; a member of the Steubenville Nutcracker Village planning committee; a member of the committee that launched the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce Herald-Star Speaker Series; and received the Community Service Humanitarian Award from Quinn Memorial AME Church.
After leaving the United Way, she joined Tri-State Financial Services. She died June 23, 2021, at age 51.
"It's important that as a community we have this race to bring people together in Kresser's memory. She was so passionate about our community and about giving back and living united," said Ted Gorman, president of the United Way's board of directors.
In addition to the race, the morning featured drawings for cash and numerous prizes and offered a chance for member organizations to tell more about the services they provide. Fourth Street Standard and Fresh Twist sold food and drinks.
"We bring in our partner agencies," Gorman said. "They set up tables and people can go around and visit them. It's so important that we are constantly looking at ways that we can get better. Giving back is the biggest way.
"There is such a need in our community, and it's good to bring people who might not understand what our mission is together. It's so important to have this event next to the United Way," he added.
Slowikowski said she, her husband, Frank, and the other members of her family always have been givers.
"We believe you're put on this Earth to help your fellow man," she explained. "We're Catholic, and we're religious, and when you are religious, you just feel that commitment to help other people. In our valley, we see how much need there is. As I go out and volunteer on many different things and at community events, you see it, right even in my own town of Toronto, and it's everywhere in the county."
Her involvement with the United Way came before her daughter became the organization's executive director, Slowikowski added. She helped raise awareness and money for the organization while she worked at the former Eastern Gateway Community College.
"There are people in need, and we need to make it better for them, and better for our community, so our community can grow, and people can have a better life, especially the little kids," she added. "Suzanne loved kids. She never had any of her own. She had Annie (her Yorkshire terrier), who she loved dearly, and she took care of her nieces and nephews. She treated the children of her friends like they were her own.
"That's what was in her heart," Slowikowski said. "She did what was in her heart, and I think that's very important to realize that she devoted herself to taking care of people and helping in any community events that she could. She would step up to the plate and do it."
Maintaining that commitment to the area is a big part of what the United Way does.
"Things are tougher now," Slowikowski said. "I don't know how people can afford to buy groceries for their families sometimes, and that's what it's all about -- taking care of each other. And, if we are all united, we can do this -- it can make our community a better place."
Crawford said ensuring that legacy of involvement and caring is important.
"I think that as people who have done so much for the community are passing, the best way to memorialize them is to be giving back to the community that they loved and cherished," she said.