Legacy of Love: The Semper Fi Fund and the Boston Marathon
The 2020 Boston Marathon marks the seven-year anniversary of the horrors that took place near the finish line in 2013. Gathering at the starting line to run alongside the bombing victims this year will be 10 Team Semper Fi athletes and 23 Semper Fi Fund Community athletes – the fourth year in a row that our athletes have joined with the victims to stand Boston Strong.Just days after the bombing on April 20th, 2013, a special relationship between the Boston survivors and the Semper Fi Fund began. Wounded veterans visited five hospitals, EMS teams and the injured bringing our message of HOPE and STRENGTH.Gabe Martinez, a double amputee on Team Semper Fi, had flown in from training for the Paralympic Trials. Walking into the hospitals, sporting shorts that showed off his beautiful prosthetic legs, Gabe instantly embodied the joy, excitement about life, and happiness after trauma. Gabe, along with fellow veterans – Cam, BJ, Josh, and Bobby were living proof of post-traumatic growth. Semper Fi Fund Founder Karen Guenther and Vice President of Casework Susan Rocco, alongside our warriors, visited the staff and patients in the ERs, post-operative recovery unit, operating rooms, and ICUs. They brought such a great mixture of humor, strength, inspiration and love to patients, their families, and the hospital staff. This trip would be the first of seven trips in total over the next year to provide mentorship and inspiration to Boston.
Legacy of Love:
Semper Fi Fund and the Boston Marathon
The Semper Fi Fund provides urgently needed resources and support for post 9/11 injured military members and their families. When the tragic events of the Boston Marathon happened six years ago, members of the Semper Fi Fund quickly volunteered to visit those injured in the bombings, helping both emotionally and financially. This year, the Semper Fi Fund became an official charity of the B.A.A.
Watch Video Here Over the months that followed restricted donations came into the Semper Fi Fund from across America to support those injured in the bombing. The SFF was able to help families of the bombing victims with lodging, loss of income while at the bedside, service dogs, adaptive equipment… whatever was needed.Since that fateful day, the Semper Fi Fund has remained close to its Boston family. Each Marathon Day, the Fund joins Boston in celebrating the strength and resiliency of the community. Staff and veterans alike feel honored and blessed for the relationships that emerged after the bombing, and to stand together Boston Strong.
