A 3-Year-Old’s Lost Toy Sparked a Citywide Search at the Boston Marathon — Here’s the Real Story
It started with a mother’s plea on social media and ended with a small bundle of fur waiting on a freshly cleaned sidewalk.
Three-year-old Daisy lost her favorite stuffed animal — a beloved companion named Sarah — at the Boston Marathon finish line on April 20. What followed was a heartwarming chain of strangers coming together that proved the marathon’s spirit of community extends far beyond the race itself.
Katie Pedrick and her daughter spent hours retracing their steps along Boylston Street after realizing Sarah was gone. The search turned up nothing.
Hoping the internet could do what hours of walking could not, Pedrick turned to social media with a post that would soon reach thousands of people.
“My three-year-old lost her favorite stuffy at the Boston Marathon today,” Pedrick wrote. “Her name is Sarah and we would really, really love her back.”
The post gained thousands of views, but despite all that attention, no immediate leads materialized. Sarah was still missing.
After striking out online, Pedrick contacted CBS News Boston for help. The station reached out to Ali Foley, a volunteer with the Neighborhood Association of Back Bay who knew those streets well.
Foley didn’t hesitate. She had the perfect excuse to hit the pavement — her dog, Foxy Lady, needed her evening walk.
“I said, ‘Well, Foxy Lady needs to go outside for her evening walk; we’ll go out,’” Foley told WCVB-TV.
So out they went — Foley and Foxy Lady, scanning the finish line area with fresh eyes. Foley checked sidewalks, trash bags and containers. She spoke with a Boston police officer during the search. The marathon crowds had long since cleared, and cleanup crews had swept through the area.
Then came the moment that made the whole effort worth it.
“I looked down Exeter Street, which had just been cleaned,” Foley told CBS News Boston. “I looked down to the left and I see a little bundle of fur on the sidewalk and I said, ‘That can’t be it.’”
But it was.
There sat Sarah — a small stuffed animal somehow surviving the marathon crowds, the street sweepers and the overnight hours — waiting on a sidewalk on Exeter Street as if she knew someone was coming back for her.
The reunion happened the very next day, April 21, near the finish line where Sarah had first gone missing. Pedrick was overwhelmed.
“I didn’t think we would ever see her again and we are so happy to have her back. She is going to get an AirTag collar the second we get home, that’s for sure,” Pedrick told CBS News Boston.
As for the bigger picture, Pedrick saw something meaningful in the way strangers rallied around a little girl’s lost toy.
“I think the Boston Marathon is so much about people coming together and community spirit. It really feels like an example of that,” she said.
This article was created by content specialists using various tools, including AI.
