After bombings at the Boston Marathon last Monday turned Patriots’ Day into a tragedy, a group of Georgetown students banded together to raise money for victims and their families.
Bibs for Boston raised $2,780 April 18 by selling 800 paper bibs resembling those worn in marathons and printed with Boston’s 617 area code.
Danny Lohrfink (MSB ’14) and Vince Korth (MSB ’14) came up with the idea while watching the news Monday night.
“I couldn’t stop going back to CNN.com and reading up on stories,” Lohrfink said. “I said, ‘We should do something,’ and I thought, ‘Well, it’s a marathon: let’s sell bibs.’ As I was talking, Vince was already making the design.”
Korth and Lohrfink reached out to two friends from Boston, Derek Embry (MSB ’15) and Freeman Condon (NHS ’14), to help with the cause. Condon and Embry rallied a dozen students to join them on the project.
For Lohrfink, the motivation for this project hit close to home.
“The reason why I was so interested in the first place was [because] my cousin was a block away at the time, heard it all happen, saw people bloody running towards her,” Lohrfink said. “Because we’re so close, I was moved by it and wanted to do something.”
By using Georgetown printers and purchasing limited supplies at Kinkos, the group was able to keep costs under $20 and maximize the amount of money that would go directly to the charity.
The group plans to donate all funds through the New England Patriots website to a foundation organized by Patriots owner Robert Kraft. After the bombings, Kraft announced that he would match donations the foundation receives in its first two weeks up to $100,000. As a result, Bibs for Boston had effectively raised $5,560.
Kyle O’Donnell (COL ’14), a student from Danvers, Mass., bought one of the 800 bibs that the group sold.
“I think that when it comes to a marathon, the bib is the most iconic thing that you can associate with it. It’s just a sign of support for all runners out there, especially the ones related to this incident, and it’s something you can wear with pride and really show your support,” O’Donnell said.
Within the first 15 minutes of tabling, Bibs for Boston had raised $200. The group sold all of the bibs they had printed and received several extra donations as well.
O’Donnell noted that in addition to financially supporting the bombing’s victims and their families, the fundraising efforts had a therapeutic value for Georgetown students.
“Since I’m far away from home and I wasn’t there to feel the situation, it was nice to see both students from the Boston area and students not from Boston come together in this unfortunate event,” he said.
