“There are several objectives for Race for the Place. One is to get the community out to learn more about MSU safe place. … Another is to give volunteers an opportunity to contribute to our program,” Rosen said. “Of course, the most obvious objective is to raise money for our program.”

Rosen said MSU is the only university in the country with a large domestic violence shelter on campus, noting the important role it plays.

“MSU Safe Place has an emergency shelter for anyone who’s experiencing domestic violence or stalking … (including) their minor-aged children,” Rosen said. “We serve students, staff and faculty in the community. We serve women and men.”

The winner of the race was Jacob Crowe, a member of the Playmakers racing team, with a time of 15:45.

“I definitely wanted to come out to run to support Safe Place,” Crowe said. “All of the races have great causes, and this is just an example of one of the great ones in the area.”

Clint Summers ran in the race and is an employee of MSU Federal Credit Union, or MSUFCU, one of the race’s largest sponsors.

“(It’s important to) just get more awareness out there, to get more advertising for Safe Place to understand what they do and the services they provide,” Summers said.

Elementary education junior Kelly Gardner also participated and found the MSU Safe Place’s mission resonated with her. She ran through the cold with a fellow member of Chi Omega to support the cause.

“You never know if (domestic violence) could happen to me, and I would want to support (MSU Safe Place), too,” Gardner said.

“If we have other people supporting it, other people will come out to do it too.”