Thousands offer homes to stranded Boston marathoners

After the chaos of the Boston Marathon explosions, officials closed off the area, leaving unknown scores of marathoners and visitors stranded. Boston.com created a pair of Google documents to help connect these victims with people who had beds to offer.

Within minutes, there were hundreds of submissions. By the next day, there were thousands offering their homes from across the Greater Boston area. Even from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and, optimistically perhaps, Texas. People volunteered not only their homes and warm beds, but also transportation, hot meals, beer, and even the comfort of their soft, fuzzy pets.

We stopped accepting submissions two days later as it neared 6,000. The document still exists, minus the personal information of the Good Samaritans. The names and contact info and addresses have been deleted. All that remains are the descriptions of the havens and well wishes offered as a lasting tribute to everyone who stepped up and opened their homes and hearts following the tragedy.

We've highlighted a subset of these messages here. If you found a place to stay using our Google doc or hosted a runner, please let us know.