Marco pointed me to a news story where a group of Dutch runners decided to help with the relief efforts after finding out that the New York marathon would be canceled. Here was a tweet from the Newark, New Jersey mayor:
Wow, 40 Marathon runners from Amsterdam just called to volunteer. They are not running so they want to help. #InternationalKindness
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) November 3, 2012
News article (Dutch | English)
As reports had stated that 40,000 of the 47,000 expected runners were already in the city when the marathon was canceled by Mayor Bloomberg, it does make sense. (Although the logistics of moving around that many helpers is something you would need to tackle as well.)
The title sponsor of the marathon, ING, said it would donate half a million dollars to the relief effort, while Poland Spring (a bottled water company) said it would donate the 200,000 bottles of water which were to be used during the marathon itself.
Other stories of New York marathon runners helping out:
Running Staten Island to deliver essentials (their Facebook page)
World Vision marathoners distribute food
Race2Recover – Donating hotel rooms for the relief effort (and requesting a hotel room)
