MA Red Cross CEO Jarrett Barrios tells the gripping story of his personal 2013 Boston Marathon experience as a runner stopped at mile 25.8 and as the leader of the biggest MA Red Cross disaster response since the blizzard of 1978.

1. RedCross.Org/BostonStrong
Mile 25

2. 20-mile practice runs? Really?

3. Team Red Cross 2013
RedCross.org/ma/boston/team-red-cross-2013

4. For 39 years, Red Crossers have
been running medical stations at
the Boston Marathon.

5. First Aid Volunteers

6. Asphalt as Solitude

7. Heidi

8. At 2:49 pm, two bombs exploded in
succession adjacent to the Boylston
Street finish line.

10. At 2:49 pm, two bombs exploded in
succession adjacent to the Boylston Street
finish line.
At 2:50 pm, officials—for the first time in the
race’s 117 year history—stopped the Boston
Marathon early.

11. Marathon Finish Line

12. 2:50 p.m. Heidi and I were stopped here

13. 2:49 p.m. Two explosions on Boylston

14. Where Javier was to see the finish line

15. Staff in the North Viewing Stands

16. Staff in the North Viewing Stands

17. Carlos Arredondo, Red Cross volunteer, aiding at finish.

18. The Red Cross Disaster Operations Center
sprang to life within minutes of the bombing.

19. Cambridge

20. Disaster Operations Center

21. Disaster Operations Center

22. For the following weeks, Red Cross
volunteers provided disaster relief services
for those affected by the Boston Marathon.
It was our largest response in greater Boston
since the Blizzard of ’78.

23. Offering aid

24. Boston Common

25. Said one first responder, ‘The only hot meal I had the
first week (after the bombings) was from the Red Cross.’

26. Boylston Street

27. Boston

28. Watertown

29. RedCross.Org/BostonStrong

30. The Red Cross provided 46,829 meals
to first responders, residents and families affected
by the bombing and resulting manhunt.

31. Red Crossers supported 78 memorials, vigils and
community gatherings in the wake of the Boston
Marathon Bombing.
Red Cross volunteers helped 3,574 persons in the
bombings’ aftermath with emotional and mental health
support.
Red Cross coordinated a Family Assistance Center for
the injured & their families, and continues supporting
them through until today.

32. On April 21, 2014, Jarrett will join 18 other Team Red
Cross runners—and 5,000 others 2013 runners--in
finishing their race. Team Red Cross will invite 30 new
runners to join them.
For more information or to volunteer with Red Cross,
email us at EasternMassVol@redcross.org
RedCross.Org/BostonStrong