Lost Stuffed Cat Found After Boston Marathon Search

When Katie Pedrick and her daughter Daisy cheered on Boston Marathon runners Monday, they never imagined they'd lose their most precious companion in the crowd. Three-year-old Daisy's beloved stuffed cat Sarah vanished somewhere along Boylston Street.

Pedrick and Daisy spent hours retracing their steps through the packed marathon route. No luck.

Desperate, Pedrick turned to social media with a simple plea: "My three-year-old lost her favorite stuffy at the Boston Marathon today. Her name is Sarah and we would really, really love her back." The video quickly racked up thousands of views, but no one had spotted the missing cat.

Then Pedrick made one more call to CBS News Boston. The station reached out to Ali Foley, a volunteer with the Neighborhood Association of Back Bay, who immediately grabbed her dog and headed out into the night.

Foley searched sidewalks and trash containers, talking with police officers and checking every corner near the finish line. Just as she was about to give up, something caught her eye on Exeter Street.

"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,'" Foley recalled. But there she was: Sarah the stuffed cat, lying against a building, waiting to be found.

Daisy and Sarah reunited near the finish line Tuesday morning. The joy on the little girl's face said everything.

Sunny's Take

This small act of kindness captures everything beautiful about the Boston Marathon spirit. A mother's plea reached exactly the right person, who dropped everything to help a child she'd never met. Foley didn't have to spend her evening searching dark streets for a stuffed animal, but she did it anyway because it mattered to one little girl.

"I didn't think we would ever see her again and we are so happy to have her back," Pedrick said. "She is going to get an AirTag collar the second we get home, that's for sure."

Sometimes the smallest acts of community care mean the most.