Senator McConnell Welcomes the America 4 Boston Prayer Canvas to the Nation’s Capital
March 13, 2014
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell hosted Mrs. Kari Wagner, a native of Meade County, Kentucky, and thanked her for her work to collect signatures and messages from Members of Congress for the America 4 Boston Prayer Canvas. Senator McConnell signed the canvas in the U.S. Capitol and invited his colleagues to participate.
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The America 4 Boston Prayer Canvas is a grass-roots effort started by Kari and six more mothers in response to the attacks at the Boston Marathon in April 2013. Kari describes their creation of the prayer canvas as a “giant symbol of America’s compassion, resilience, and unity,” as more than 50,000 people have signed the canvas and written messages to honor the victims, survivors and the city of Boston. Within the past year, the prayer canvas has grown to nearly 19,000 square feet and will be spread out in the Boston Common on the day of the bombing anniversary, April 15th. The completed prayer canvas will be presented to the city of Boston at the Boston Red Sox game on April 20th.
Senator McConnell welcomed Kari to the U.S. Capitol saying, “I commend the nationwide efforts of Kari and her team and I was privileged to be able to host the prayer canvas in the Senate. The America 4 Boston Prayer Canvas is a noble way to remember and honor the people of Boston, especially the many victims, survivors, and their families.”
While set up in the U.S. Capitol corridors gathering signatures, Kari Wagner said, “the reason we started this was to show the community spirit of America; the prayer canvas serves as giant symbol of America’s compassion, resilience, and unity. Throughout the past year, we have been overwhelmed by the perception and engagement in our efforts.”
Last summer, the prayer canvas traveled to the Commonwealth and Kentuckians in Elizabethtown and Brandenburg participated and wrote messages to show their support.