Middlefield – KraftMaid Cabinetry, a leader in the semi-custom cabinetry industry based in Middlefield, Ohio, is the presenting sponsor for the 2018 Friends of Melana 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run held during the Garrettsville Summerfest.
The Friends of Melana (FOM) Foundation honors Garrettsville, Ohio, native Melana Matson, who lost her battle with children’s glioma cancer in 2009 at the age of nine. “Our hope is to fund children’s glioma cancer research so that no child, no family, no community will ever have to experience what Melana and her loved ones did again,” say Melana’s grandparents and founders of the Friends of Melana Foundation, Norm and Joyce Fashing of Garrettsville.
“Thanks to many generous sponsors, donors and volunteers, the Friends of Melana Foundation has raised more than $130,000 for children’s glioma cancer research through fund-raising activities and events, including the Friends of Melana 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run held during Summerfest,” says Fashing. “This year KraftMaid donated $5,000 – the proceeds from an employee auction of surplus cabinets – to the Friends of Melana Foundation. We are very grateful to KraftMaid for its leadership as the presenting Friends of Melana 5K sponsor, and to the many other local businesses that support our efforts to fund children’s glioma cancer research.”
In 2011, the Friends of Melana Foundation joined with the Cleveland-based Prayers From Maria Children‘s Glioma Cancer Foundation. The two non-profits pooled resources to provide support for critical, groundbreaking research. In 2014, the Children’s Glioma Cancer Foundation awarded a $250,000 Melana Matson Memorial Grant, the first grant awarded in honor of a stricken child. This year researchers at the Cleveland Clinic and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston will receive $600,000 in research grants named in honor of children who lost their lives to glioma cancer.
The Friends of Melana 5K will take place Sunday, June 24, at 9 a.m., in Garrettsville, Ohio. To register please visit https://gopherarun.com/races/post-1.html.
