On April 15, 2013 Boston shook with two bombs planted at the Boston Marathon. Many of us were there or nearby or had friends hurt – or killed. It shook our city beyond the physical and we haven’t completely healed. But an extraordinary thing happened in our reaction. We reached out to comfort each other, to turn fear into helping, to take what could have been a focus on hate and turn it into a focus on goodness.

On Marathon Day, Boston Cares was inundated with people who wanted to help and support from around the country. There was little that volunteers could do on the ground, so we channeled their drive into a social media campaign called Miles of Good, which captured the good deeds people were doing all over. We ran it for the 26 days following the Marathon and it helped us recognize that Boston Strong reality.

This year in the 26.2 days leading up to the Marathon on April 20, Boston Cares will post daily about the many creative and inspiring ways that volunteers have responded to the bombings. It’s our goal to highlight the positive stories that have come from something that chilled us. Boston Cares is also hosting a free Miles of Good Volunteer Fair on Tuesday, April 8 at the Copley branch of the Boston Public Library, so that new volunteers can get oriented and find ways to help every day, as well as take an introductory disaster relief training from the leader of our Disaster Relief Action Team (D.A.R.T.).

Marathon Monday is the day when Boston is at its best:  Spring is in the air (finally), Patriots’ Day celebrations are underway, and hundreds of thousands of people watch the runners who have trained all the long winter reach their goals at that finish line in Copley Square.
Join us this year and be inspired. Please share your #MilesofGood stories with us @BostonCares.