April 15, 2020, marked the seventh anniversary of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. On April 15, 2015, Boston set forth a new tradition based in spreading kindness called One Boston Day. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and strict social distancing policies, the fifth annual One Boston Day was celebrated a bit differently.

One Boston Day usually involves events and volunteer projects, however, this year, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh asked Bostonians to “stand together by staying apart.” Mayor Walsh proclaimed April 15, 2020 “a citywide day of reflection, prayer, and unity,” and stated that “the spirit behind One Boston Day is more important than ever.”

The city hosted an interfaith prayer service at 2 p.m., which was streamed live on boston.gov, and available on cable access channels. After that, bells at the Old South Church began tolling at 2:49 p.m., right at the same time that the explosions occurred.

The One Boston Day website provided a checklist with fifteen different acts of kindness promoting safe participation in the celebration of One Boston Day, and encouraged participants to take part in at least four of these acts of kindness. Some items on the checklist included staying home for those who can’t, checking in on an older neighbor by phone and offering help, donating to charity, and supporting small businesses and local restaurants. The website also encouraged people to share their acts of kindness using the hashtag #onebostonday.

The website highlighted the fact that over 200,000 acts of kindness had been pledged for One Boston Day, and featured tweets and Instagram posts from several different organizations who voiced their support for the event. Posts featured expressions of remembrance and of gratitude for essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Expressions of gratitude included signs posted in windows that read “thank you.”

One Instagram post featured was from UMass Boston, sharing the story of Krystle Campbell, a student of the UMass Boston College of Management, and one of the three victims who lost their life at the finish line of the Marathon when the bombs detonated. UMass Trustee, Richard Campbell, established a scholarship fund from which fourteen scholarships have been awarded so far to students pursuing a business degree at UMass Boston. UMass Boston featured a link in their Instagram bio to support the “Run for Krystle Team,” who have been participating in the Boston Marathon since 2014, raising money for the scholarship fund.

According to the One Boston Day website, the tradition generally “serves as an opportunity to celebrate the resiliency, generosity, and strength demonstrated by the people of Boston and those around the world in response to the tragedy of April 15, 2013.” The site features stories honoring survivors and family members of the victims, and this year, included the message from Mayor Walsh urging people to continue to participate in One Boston Day while still practicing social distancing.

The Boston Marathon Bombing was an act of terrorism that consisted of a double bombing which occurred at the Marathon’s finish line on Boylston Street. The bombing injured at least 264 people, and took the lives of 8 year-old Martin Richard, 29 year-old Krystle Campbell, and 23 year-old Lu Lingzi. Sean Collier, a 27 year-old MIT police officer was killed shortly after during the manhunt for the bombers. Boston Police Officer Dennis Simmonds suffered a head injury during a shoot-out with the bombers, and passed away nearly a year later.

Sources: https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/us/boston-marathon-terror-attack-fast-facts/index.html https://www.dotnews.com/columns/2019/one-boston-day-celebration-everything-boston-stands https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/one-boston-day-will-look-different-this-year/2107532/ https://storage.googleapis.com/onebostonday/One-Boston-Day-2020-Acts-of-Kindness-checklist.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbtd-cdmQHc https://www.instagram.com/p/B_AIIJDAImG/?utm_source=ig_embed https://www.onebostonday.org https://www.wcvb.com/article/one-boston-day-honor-boston-marathon-victims-with-acts-of-kindness/32153588 https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/04/15/coronavirus-covid-19-one-boston-day-marathon-bombings-anniversary-mayor-marty-walsh/

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/04/15/coronavirus-covid-19-one-boston-day-marathon-bombings-anniversary-mayor-marty-walsh/