Mother Runners Donate BIG to One Fund Boston!

A little over a month ago, we had our world–and our hearts–shattered by two bombs near the finish line of the venerable Boston Marathon. The next day, one generous and clever mother runner suggested we morph one of our tees, one with a hand-painted heart on it, into a tribute to the souls affected by the tragedy. Dimity and I thought it was a brilliant idea, figuring we’d maybe sell a few hundred tees and donate the profits to One Fund Boston.

Mother runners’ heartfelt way of showing their support of victims of Boston Marathon bombings

We were awestruck by the power of your response: You showed your support and love by purchasing 1,987 (!!)  T-shirts. For yourself, for your sisters, for friends who ran Boston, for mothers-in-law spectating the race. After doing the math, we realized this would mean we could donate more than $25,000. Our hearts swelled with astonishment, pride, and gratitude.
Then reality set in: nearly 2,000 T-shirts in boxes in my living room, needing to be folded, packed, and mailed as far away as England and Bangkok and across United States. Gulp! I felt nauseated at the mere thought, envisioning all you mother runners eagerly awaiting your T-shirt(s). When I wear my Shopgal Sarah hat, I take a lot of pride in fulfilling orders in a timely fashion, but I could tell this was unlike any orders we’d received before. Rather than talk you through the process–I’m hoping most of you have already received your tee, if not, it’s en route–let me show you some images from the 10 days it took to get the shirts folded, packed, and ready for the USPS. There were many speedbumps along the way, most notably two postage printers that repeatedly jammed and broke, but like any rough race, we eventually crossed the finish line.

Some of the assembled mother runners who selflessly helped out stuffing packages, sticking on labels, and offering technical support. And that’s Emily, my mail carrier, in the middle. She’s been my BFF the last two weeks: Once packages were getting mailed, she’d stop by 2x every day to pick up.

(L) Lisa the Label Lady, marking all the packages with names and sizes ordered. (C) Miller loved all the action, and hopped right in. (R) Cyndie (and the hand of her kindergartner) offered help in myriad ways, including talking me off the proverbial ledge a few times.

Cyndie (a.k.a. my mental and technical savior the past week or so) dressed the part while stuffing envelopes.

My living room: packages awaiting postage and labels, while I awaited a replacement printer that wouldn’t break after printing a mere 150 labels like the first one did. Silly me: Printer #2 ended up breaking at least four times. Cyndie fixed the first times, then I tackled it solo. Then, six (6!!) shirts from the end, it seemed to break for good. Deep breath.

Kristin, another bigtime helper, hugging a bunch of orders when we finally got things rolling for real.

Same screen, different names: my view for week+. Changed what I listened to, though, to pass the time, including Fresh Air, Radio Lab, and our own Another Mother Runner podcasts. (Is it wrong to laugh along with myself?!)

Handing off the last load to Emily. Phew!

The moneyshot: Thanks to you all, we donated $25,600 (!!!) to One Fund Boston.

Thanks to you all for being so incredibly generous and gracious: The force of mother runners’ love will be felt by the victims of this tragedy. I also want to give a shout-out to all my helpers, in no particular order: Joanne, Lisa, Cyndie, Krista, Kelly, Penny, Kristin, Molly, Julie, and Sarah L. You work lightened the load; your attitude lifted my spirits.
And this entire undertaking, while daunting, reaffirms my abiding faith in humanity. Out of darkness has come brightness. Many, many thanks.