Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Boston, and the marathon went off without a hitch! When you closed your eyes, last year’s tragedy seemed far away.
But it was a different story when you opened them. Everywhere you looked there were signs of support for the victims and runners. People proudly wore “Boston Strong” hats, tees, sweaters, pants––and everything else imaginable.
In the aftermath of the tragedy last year, Bostonians and people around the world supported the victims with all sorts of fundraisers. Here are three Boston Strong fundraisers that are, well, Boston Strong!
Boston Strong Tee
Within hours of the Boston Marathon tragedy, two Emerson College students, Nick Reynolds and Chris Dobens, designed a bright blue and yellow tee with the words “Boston Strong” on it. Nick and Chris’ wanted to sell 110 tees. They sold 34,000 the first week!
Earlier this month, they announced they had sold 66,000 shirts and raised $1 million for the One Fund.
One year later, the Boston Strong tee is still going strong. You can buy your tee, including a limited edition commemorative shirt, here.
Boston 26.2 Brew
Beer maker Sam Adams originally brewed Boston 26.2 Brew as a toast to all the runners and spectators at the Boston Marathon. But after the bombings in 2013, 26.2 Brew had another purpose: to raise funds for the victims.
Like last year, all the profits from this year’s beer will go to the The Greg Hill Foundation, to support the ongoing needs of the survivors and their families. You can only find the 26.2 Brew in Boston and along the marathon course, which begins in Hopkinton, Massachusetts and travels through six towns before ending in Boston.
Looking for a great reason to visit Boston? This may be it!
Bled for Boston
Bled for Boston is a fundraiser that Chris Padgett created the day after the tragedy and launched earlier this month, nearly one year later. The inspiration for it came in the unlikeliest of places! Chris explains:
In April of 2013 I, like hundreds of other people around New England, found myself waiting my turn in a tattoo shop. Good Mojo Tattoos in Beverly, Massachusetts, was offering Boston-themed tattoos to memorialize the lives and innocence lost due to the bombings at the 117th running of the Boston Marathon.
All of the money Good Mojo collected was donated to The One Fund. It was in that lobby that I came up with the idea to photograph these memorial tattoos and the people they were attached to. Too often we see a person’s tattoo, but don’t have the time or courage to learn the story behind it. This idea, and these stories, became Bled for Boston.
The Bled for Boston book is now for sale at Blurb.com. Five percent of the sale price will benefit Spaulding Rehabilitation Center, the facility at which many victims of the bombing recovered.
If you visit Boston, you can see Chris’ photos of the tattoos and read personal accounts at the Boston Center for Adult Education. The exhibit will be on display through the month of April to commemorate the anniversary of the bombings.
Tees, beer, books all say the same thing: Boston is STRONG!