BURRILLVILLE – It was a chilly evening at AT Levy Elementary School on Friday, Oct. 10 as runners in the Burrillville Prevention Action Coalition’s 5K readied for takeoff.
The event, a fundraiser to support graduating Bronco seniors who participate in the drug and alcohol awareness program, was held for the first time on homecoming weekend, with a early evening run, also a first in the 5K’s seven years.
It also honored the organization’s MADD victim for the 2025/2026 school year, announced on Friday by BPAC Youth member Arrow Yuszczak: Tori Lynn Andreozzi. The group works with Mothers Against Drink Drivers each year to remember and honor a different victim of impaired driving.
Andreozzi was struck by a drunk driver in a hit and run while walking home from her school bus in 2003 at the age of 12. She survived, but suffered a traumatic brain injury that rendered her unable to walk or talk. She would die in 2022 at the age of 32.
Yuszczak noted that during life, Andreozzi believed in spreading kindness.
“Today we run not only to honor a life that was taken too soon, but also to remind others to live by Tori’s mindset and pay it forward,” said Yuszczak.
After the Kids Fun Run, Meredith Peloquin sang the National Anthem. The route took runners along a mostly flat 3.1 mile loop down the nearby bike path.
The race featured awards for the fastest male and female runners and 25-year-old Mack Gilmore of Harrisville was first across the finish line at 19:38.1. The event’s fastest female runner, Payton Roberts, 14, of Pascoag, came in at 29:33.3.
