Hundreds turn out to show support for victims of Boston Marathon explosions
Even though Columbia is more than 900 miles away from Boston, many members of the Gamecock community felt closely affected by Monday’s Boston Marathon tragedy.
Boston native Luke Flanagan, a second-year exercise science student, said he felt his stomach drop as soon as he heard the news of the bombs that wreaked havoc on the streets he had known for so long.
“My father raced for 10 years [in the Boston Marathon], and my grandma volunteered for 15 or 20,” Flanagan said. “The last time I went to the race was when I was 4 years old, but it still hits close to home.”
Flanagan worked with his fellow Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers over the course of 72 hours to pull together a charity run at the Greene Street Fields Thursday in support of the victims in Monday’s explosion that killed three people and injured more than 170 others.
T-shirts were sold for $15 and donations were collected in the middle of the field, with all proceeds going directly to the members of the Richard family who lost their 8-year-old son, Martin, in Monday’s blast; Martin’s mother and 6-year-old sister suffered severe injuries.
The Gamecocks Run for Boston event was planned through a group on Facebook, to which more than 1,000 people responded. Though they would have been happy with any amount of support, Flanagan said members of Beta were ecstatic about the support that was shown.
“We didn’t come into it with any expectations,” said Beta Theta Pi president Nathan Ewoldt, a third-year public health student. “It was really amazing.”
Columbia natives, as well as those from surrounding towns, found out about the event through a number of local sources, as well as national ports such as The Huffington Post and Total Frat Move, according to first-year international business student Andy Knight.
Christina Derienzo and her family were in attendance on Thursday night, and although they did not have a personal connection to the marathon, the group run still held great importance for them.
“We love to run, and we want to teach our children to support others in times like this,” Derienzo said, as her 7-year-old son Tyler and 5-year-old daughter Emily waited next to her in anticipation, both ready to run.
The field was lined with American flags to create a simple course for the symbolic movement. As Lee Greenwood’s patriotic hit “Proud To Be An American” played, runners lined up to run for a difference.
But before the runners took off, USC President Harris Pastides expressed his pride and gratitude to those in attendance.
“First of all, we moved here from Massachusetts, so it hit close to home for us thinking about what we could do to help when [Beta Theta Pi] got together and organized this without being told to do anything by the administration,” he said. “I could not be a prouder Gamecock today.”
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tudent Body President Chase Mizzell also came out to show his support.
“I think it’s so phenomenal to see the care of our students for one community so far away,” Mizzell said. “There is pure compassion in the Gamecock family.”
After the run had ended, Flanagan, the “resident Bostonian” of the fraternity, was called on stage to lead the crowd in the singing of Boston favorite “Sweet Caroline.”
Afterward, Flanagan expressed how touched he was that so many people came out to support the cause that was so near to his heart.
“It’s beautiful. It’s great,” he said. “I love it.”