The seventh annual Chester County Color 5K run and walk will be held on Saturday, Oct. 7, at Exton Park, 800 Swedesford Road, and along the Chester Valley Trail. Registration will begin at 8 a.m., and the race will step off at 9 a.m.

Administered by the Chester County Community Foundation, the event raises funds to combat the opioid and heroin epidemic in the county. The John R. Gailey III and JoEllen Berger Charitable Fund has been the event's presenting sponsor since 2019.

The Chester County Color 5K draws thousands of participants and supporters and has raised more than $200,000 since it began. All proceeds support Chester County's Community Outreach Prevention and Education (COPE) program.

The COPE program was created in 2018 to steer overdose survivors being treated in any of Chester County's hospital emergency rooms toward treatment. The COPE program is a "warm handoff" of an overdose survivor to treatment through the help of a certified recovery specialist. The specialist arrives within one hour of an overdose survivor's arrival in the emergency room and provides the survivor with personal support and a connection to treatment. The specialist is also available to speak with the survivor's loved ones.

Commissioner Michelle Kichline led the effort to establish the Chester County Color 5K in 2016 as part of her commitment to addressing the opioid and heroin crisis affecting many people in Chester County. Since then, she has seen the event grow into a fundraising effort that aims to help destigmatize substance use disorder and lead individuals to treatment and a path to recovery.

Registration for the Chester County Color 5K is open to teams and individuals at http://www.chesco.org/color5k. Preregistration is encouraged.

Sponsorships are available for the Color 5K. For more details, contact Rebecca Brain, Chester County public information officer, at rbrain@chesco.org.