By Kelly Isenor

On Marathon Monday, 63 runners will put on Team Red Cross singlets and line up in Hopkinton, MA for the start of the 129^th Boston Marathon. Collectively, these runners have raised more than $610,000 for the Red Cross mission, and the donations are continuing to come in.

Among this year’s runners is Jennifer Pipa, Vice President of Disaster Programs. In her four years at NHQ, Pipa has worked on designing, improving and adapting Red Cross programs in the age of continuous response, where disasters happen more frequently and with more intensity.

Running Boston is a full-circle moment for Pipa. Back in 2013, she was assigned to the mass casualty operation set up by the Red Cross in response to the deadly bombings at the finish line in Copley Square.

“The Red Cross is a part of the fabric of the Boston community,” Pipa said. “Whether it is helping a community respond and recover from an attack like the Boston Marathon bombing or helping runner who might need help on the marathon course, our volunteers stand always ready to help.”

The Red Cross plays a vital role in operations for the Boston Marathon every year. We coordinate with the organizing agency, the Boston Athletic Association, to provide volunteers for 21 of the 25 medical tents set up along each mile of the course. We staff three course disruption sites with Red Cross volunteers and preposition disaster action teams to the north and south of the course so that home fire and other disaster responses can continue uninterrupted. Red Cross volunteers are stationed inside the state emergency operations centers and command staff work from the disaster operations center at the Red Cross regional headquarters in Dedham to quickly respond to any requests connected to the race. The weekend before Marathon Monday, Red Cross volunteers offer hands-only CPR demonstrations at the Runners Expo, an event that sees 30,000 visitors over two days.

In all, some 250 Red Cross of Massachusetts volunteers and staff touch the Boston Marathon every April.

You can cheer on Team Red Cross from anywhere in the country by watching live race coverage on ESPN, Monday April 21 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. In New England, the race will be carried live by the Hearst stations (WCVB Ch. 5 in Boston, WMUR Ch. 9 in Manchester, WMTW Ch. 8 in Southern Maine and WPTZ Ch. 5 in Burlington VT and Plattsburgh, NY).

And if you’re looking to fulfill a bucket list item – Team Red Cross will start accepting applications for the 2026 cohort in September.