WESTBROOK, Maine — Hundreds will take part in a memorial 5K race in Westbrook on Saturday, raising money for a cause near and dear to a family who lost their son to domestic violence.
The Westbrook Strong 5K is in memory and honor of Matt Rairdon, a Westbrook High School and Saint Joseph's College graduate who had a passion for nursing. He was killed by his ex-boyfriend in 2013 in what investigators labeled a domestic violence homicide. Rairdon was 22 years old and had just started his career as an ER nurse at Mercy Hospital in Portland.
"He's stuck at 22. We'll never see him find his partner or have a family or any of those things that we've been able to see our other children do. That's a hard thought," Laurie Rairdon, Matt's mother, said. "It's really an issue, a silent issue. I feel like you don't know what your neighbor's dealing with. We don't know what our coworkers are dealing with."
Last year was the 10th race, and it was the first time Matt's parents, Laurie and Gary, spoke publicly to the crowd about their son's abusive relationship and the need to support domestic violence survivors. It was also the first time the race had selected a domestic violence resource center, Through These Doors, as its beneficiary.
The race raises money for students in the Westbrook Regional Vocational Center nursing program and Saint Joseph's College nursing program. Over the years, donors have helped that endowment grow to more than $200,000. The Rairdons said they would like to see their efforts end while support is still going strong, and not falling off. Laurie said their board of directors has committed to organizing the race until the Rairdons want to end it.
This year, the domestic violence beneficiary is Finding Our Voices, a domestic violence resource center based in midcoast Maine.
"If you do know somebody that's struggling, to me, the important thing is to not give up on that person. And I think it's easy to [give up] because you get frustrated. It's so hard to stand by and watch somebody experience what they're experiencing and not understand how they can allow it to happen. But you have to continue to just be there for that person and hope that eventually they're going to reach out and say, 'I need your help,'" Rairdon said.
The race takes place Saturday at Riverbank Park in downtown Westbrook. You can register at www.westbrookstrong.org.
There will be several road closures on Saturday morning in the city. Westbrook Police posted them on their social media pages.
- Captain Hartley Drive will be closed from 7:55 a.m. to the end of the race (approximately 9:30 a.m.).
- Main Street, between Riverbank Park and Haskell Street, will be closed between 7:55 a.m. and 8:10 a.m.
- Due to runners crossing at Main Street by Haskell Street, there will be heavy delays at that intersection until the end of the race.
- There will be heavy delays on Stroudwater Street, as runners cross at Forest Street and Monroe Avenue.
- There will be no parking on the odd side of Main Street, between Stevens Avenue and the first entrance of Riverbank Park.
There will be police officers deployed on Main Street, Stroudwater Street, and Forest Street. Please drive cautiously and slowly through these areas and follow their directions, as they will be working to keep everyone safe.