Just one day after perhaps the most horrific day of their lives in Boston, Baldwin City residents Kit and Sarah Harris wondered how they could contribute.
“The very next day,” Kit said, “just after the emotions of everything, Sarah and I’s first thought was that we’ve been talking about all the really cool things we saw.”
Kit was talking about the two women from Boston and one woman from New York that Sarah had met. BHS Alumnus John Bones helped Kit and son Cael in the chaos too.
“That really caught our attention more than anything else,” Kit said. “So the thought was ‘what could we do to help?’”
And just 25 days later, the Harris’s put their plan to give back in motion, sponsoring a event to allow local residents to contribute, too.
“We thought we’d have a run in Baldwin and let Baldwin people, Baldwin City try to contribute to the cause,” Kit said. “All proceeds are going to One Fund Boston which now has grossed over 29 million dollars. But it’s going toward all kind of issues within the bombings: the victims, expenses, the medical, the suffering, and families of those who were injured or killed.”
On April 15, Sarah was participating in her first-ever Boston Marathon when the race came to a unexpected halt.
“I was about half a mile away,” Sarah said. “People were talking about it when they stopped the race. I just started looking around for someone to ask to use their phone because I didn’t have my phone with me.”
Meanwhile, Kit and Cael tried to contact Sarah to see if she was ok. The united effort by everyone in the experience was what inspired the Harris’s to organize the event.
The event will contain three races, The USA 5k at 9 a.m., The Sam Adams 1-Mile Walk which will also start at 9 a.m. and The Paul Revere 1-Mile Kids Run which starts at approximately 9:45 a.m.
Entry is $20, which includes a New Balance running shirt from local business Shirt Shack designed by Doug Barth. There will be five divisions for the male/female 5K: 19U, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49 and 50+. The kids run will contain four divisions: 14U, 12U, 10U and 8U. There will be awards for the top two placers in the USA 5K and the Paul Revere 1-Mile Kids Run donated by Hasty Awards of Ottawa, KS. Strollers are welcome and the course is all grass. All proceeds go to One Fund Boston, a relief fund for the Boston Marathon bombing.
Kit said that this was meant to be a one time event, but if all goes well, they might consider making it an annual event.
“(It’s) probably a one time event,” Kit said. “But you know maybe if it goes well we’ll just have a fun run on this date to remember it.”
Participants can register online here: https://www.raceit.com/Register/?event=20884
Participants can also register the day of the event, but no shirts will be guaranteed.