001talk the talk as a therapy dog he visited Holliston school all sorts of schools um and hospitals assisted living in colleges and anybody who needed him um right after the 2013 bombing Spencer took his spot um on the marathan road and he was there ever since uh to offer hope and inspiration to Runners ins spectates like as you red every year from people from all over the globe would start to look for human po popularity would grow in 2018 in the worst weather for Boston Marathon uh Runners I think we can all agree was pretty awful uh he made history because a lot of Spectators didn't make it out that year including my my wife and my other sidekick uh Spencer's other sidekick Penny sat that one out uh but I looked at Spencer he
002looked at me he's like let's do this and we put him in my raincoat and off we went and the world met SP sir so Dr in Mar rine coat we arrived at the spot I jumped out of my car grabbed his flag try to do our usual spot and they brought a box for him to sit on so we keep his little butt dry and the Spencer inspiration caught the world one of the things I can say about Spencer that made him so extremely special was he was he was relatable he was an everyday guy or an everyday story and everybody has a Spencer story and it made it very very very relatable so he was instantly an icon Spencer in recent years overcame many challenges including cancer tumors and he was still able
003to keep his spot on the marathon route every single year even when the marathon runners were right there he was out out that year um because of that um see he became a civil prance uh and the baa recognized it aligned very much with what their mission was to you know let the world know you can do more than you think you can do you could beat the odds and be an inspiration and we can give back so that year they decided in 2022 they made him the official dog of the Boston the running of the Boston 126th marathon and honor we do not take lightly that gave Spencer the platform that we already sped for to help share him with the world he was too good not to share and that's all we ever
004wanted to do with Spencer was share him and the the marathon was just a great way to do that sadly nothing lasts forever in February 2023 we climbed our own M break Hill and he finished this Marathon by crossing the bridge immediate outpouring from all of the runners and Spectators and Spencer Penny fans C out we need a statue on the r of marison to honor this Dawn volunteers from around the country helped us resear to find the right skull purpose to make this happen and that found the right sculpture right here in our old backyard f buio right here in Canton small group of volunteers which I'll introduced shortly was formed and the task of creating a statue was at hand uh the search for the right location uh began we envisioned a peaceful
005area accessible to the public that was visible to the runners and any of the runners or any passer by could access Robin and Cindy graciously stepped up to the plate and offered us this location it which is the absolute perfect with pleas and goodness it couldn't be anything better than what made done the site is directly across the street and if you look behind you across the street you'll see a sign with a com next to it that's where Spencer stood for almost a decade Spencer has crossed the street and is now home and ready to continue his inspiration thank you again everyone that helped to make the statue a reality I can't thank you enough this boy meant the world to us and he meant the world to a lot of people and you
006can still Inspire and for everybody who will just get here thank you thank you thank you let me introduce Trisha wion and Susan merley to the most amazing volunteers ever to help us pull this task pull this task off and get this done um but we were both also dog lovers and we followed Spencer and Penny on social media in March of 2022 Susan was diagnosed with ovarian cancer so to cheer her up I scheduled meet and greet with Spencer and Penny and from there a bond was formed now as a marathon runner I can attest it's a grueling race so is battle cancer both take Faith grit and resilience and perseverance Spencer was a symbol of all of that after Rich texted me that he passed away I mely texted Susan the next day
007Susan called me and proclaimed we need to get a Spencer statue on the Marathon road and I said it's a fabulous idea I called Rich and he said I've been hearing that all around and so sus and I who are doers and planners we went right to work thank you thank you so much um I appreciate all those kind words and yes that's how the story went um I just want to First say thank you to everyone for joining us uh to honor Spencer thank you Rich for the opportunity to be part of the project I want to thank Robin and Cindy who obviously gave the property for us to do this and Trisha uh and Jeff uh for all your hard work um Jeff I know you're back there somewhere um thank you so
008much uh for everything uh it's a team effort it's strength and numbers you guys uh that's how you get things done you take a lot of people with the same like-mindedness and you work hard to get the project done and that's what we did I want to recognize Kim Chism I don't know if she's here or not Kim you here oh there she is in the back from the 26.2 Foundation um I had the pleasure of working with uh that Foundation the 26.2 foundation in hopkington uh with Kim and her dad Tim K Duff on the Bobby GI statue and this and that's called the girl who ran statue it's going to be actually put up on the on the course shortly um when the corridor is done uh this marks my third statue that
009I've done so but uh it's the third statue but perhaps the most endearing one yet as it features a dog and um as Trisha mentioned I receiv received a stage for ovarian cancer diagnosis in March of 2022 despite being healthy and an avid marathon runner this unexpected battle came my way life is a marathon so I tell all of my Runners and with that comes highs and lows moments of solitude and moments of great support sometimes you conquer the hills smoothly other times you face heartbreak and that requires a slower Pace I've been fortunate enough to have a large support system cheering me on throughout this journey and that included Spencer I've been Fort uh Spencer is widely recognized for proudly displaying his Boston Marathon strong Flags uh during the Boston Marathon offering encouragement to
010countless Runners from around the globe rain or shine Spencer's presence brought Joy love and smiles to all who pass by earning him the title of not just man's best friend but the marathon's best friend well [Applause] that dogs do have a remarkable way of uplifting Spirits don't they we see it right here today with all these beautiful animals their unwavering love for their human companions sets them apart dogs embody qualities that all humans should emulate kindness compassion reliability a sense of fun and a playful nature there's much that we can learn from our furry friends having participated in many marathons for a significant portion of my adult life the Boston Marathon course to me holds countless memories year after year the Traditions the traditional sites like Santa Claus and NAC and the Lively TJ spirits
011of Ashland rock music and biker crowd are constants the Welsley College Scream tunnle the students at Boston College the Red Sox fans in Kenmore Square all part of the fabric which make up this iconic race and now there's Spencer thanks to the incredible generosity of many particularly the running community that United to support this initiative Spencer's presence on the Boston Marathon course is for is secured for foreseeable future this honor is well deserved for Spencer I would like to take this opportunity now to express my personal gratitude to the Boston Marathon and the Boston Athletic Association and I'd like to introduce Scott Stover who is the chief marketing officer to say a few words this acts of 10,000 volunteers that help us make the race happen we think about the dedication of our law enforcement
012community that helps make this race happen every year and we think about the hundreds of thousands of fans that line 26.2 miles to sheer on everybody that's coming down the road but every once in a while someone rises above the rest and in this case it was a Kine Spencer United United everyone year in and year out uh bringing everybody together people stopping to see Spencer long before they get to the wellsy college scream tunnel or Heartbreak Hill and just for a few minutes they forgot about how much it hurts to run 26 miles and how many miles they have left to go Spencer did that for everybody through all the weather conditions Spencer was there demonstrating grit perseverance and everything that makes Boston so unique and for that we at the Boston Athletic Association
013say thank you thank you Spencer thank you rich thank you Dory for sharing Spencer with us for for so many years thank you everybody okay I want to introduce Joe from I wanted to just introduce a special guest Joe is here um he is the Handler slash almost owner I guess uh uh of of Corey um the famous uh Duo here from um The Fairmont Copley Hotel in Boston which is the host hotel for the Boston Marathon thank you very much I drove out to ashin I think it's my first time ever in ashin it's very beautiful town uh very nice drive oh uh we just drove out from Boston and I just wanted to uh you know be here and Cory too uh Spencer was part of we made uh Spencer an honorary member
014of our team at the hotel uh we got to meet Penny also Penny was great uh they were excellent uh very well behaved dog um we uh we wouldn't have missed this for the world but thank you very [Applause] much thank you Joe for driving out and now I want to introduce who is our sculptor of this amazing statue is Jeff bucao who's in my neck of the woods from Canton m and Jeff has worked on lead designer and special effects for many blockbuster movies in Hollywood is known for his ability to integrate and organize the many aspects of the major [Applause] projects going to make this brief uh so I'd like to first thank my team at picas sculpture services for all their hard work and dedication this very important project my wonderful wife
015Nina um my AR my uh she's my um Artist Artist partner uh and business partner uh Paul calau John Tor ay Lynch Jacob wall Dave Robbins Galvin H Hubbert and Ryan wary without those people this would not have been possible um I'd also like to thank all of you for the opportunity um from all of us of picachio sculpture for for choosing us you have choices for projects like this and you chose us so we're deeply grateful for that uh when Rick Christians who had had shared Spencer's story with me and their idea of developing uh the memorial for Spencer uh we didn't hesitate and you know we we wanted to jump right in um learning about Spencer and his his uh his undeniable impact on the community was very moving for me on a
016personal level and so here we are now months later after a lot of hard work uh and the Spen and Spencer is back at his post but this time he's here for good always waiting patiently for the next visitor to be impacted by his message of courage and hope so the next time that you're greeted by Spencer just know that he will not judge you based on personal political agendas or religious beliefs is message is of Love unconditional and it's up to us to follow that example allow Spencer's message to enter your heart and realize that you you too are capable of spreading Love and Hope in this world sorry that's a conscious decision that we we all have to make every day so she was love thank [Applause] you beautiful got it beautiful Yolanda
017Greaves here from around the clock we are with the artist for the Spencer statue Jeff picachio Jeff uh how does it make you feel to see your statue finally in place oh it's it's very rewarding it's very rewarding so what was the process like for you um it's a uh it's an emotional process whenever we do something like this right there's a lot of emotions involved um and there's a lot of hard work involved so um it's a it's a team effort there's eight of us at The Foundry SL sculpture Studio that we all pitch in and we all do our part so many people this is this is what makes it all worth it you know um I think that you heard someone else say I I had a long career in television and
018film yeah and it never really reached down and touched my soul the way this type of work does I do other projects for families say that lost somebody and they'll the only person that sees that work but for me on a personal level it's far more rewarding so we are still here at the Spencer unveiling first tell me your name sir David file and David where are you from Texas what made you come all the way from Texas to see this unveiling my wife and I contributed to the dog to the Statue we've been following Spencer on social media since uh the the uh 2018 okay so we were like let's go when they unveil the statue that rainy Marathon day that rainy Marathon day it just struck us TV and now have you ever
019watched the marathon in person uh yes in person and then many years ago I I watched it right after they started letting the girls run for real you mean the women the women I'm sorry I apologize the women that's okay that's okay so you used to live in the area no I came up when I lived in New Jersey one time okay okay so what was it like for you watching the unveiling very emotional very very emotional I'm so glad that there's a permanent marker [Music] now so if you're missing Spencer on this year's Ro not only are you going to see the statue this year you're also going to get to see Jimmy who will be holding Spencer's flat right here just sh so first of all congratulations you thank you very much I
020appreciate it great to see this completed and the work that you did and the hixus for donating the property and all worked out great we couldn't ask for a better location it's actually worked out this is exactly what we envisioned um and we got a sidewalk it right in front of it so it's easy for accessibility for people so just couldn't be a better it couldn't worked out any better we were just so thrilled to be here I remember having some of those first conversations when people had asked you or is there going to be a statue and then there was the initial disappointment and then of course the Hicks is stepping forward to give the property and and donate the space thinking about that and how happy that made you what has today meant
021to you it's just just he it to come to completion is is good it's a lot of it's a lot of work went into it and a lot of Zoom calls with our with triter and Susan and and just it it was a lot of work to do and I you know the money was you know trying to get the rest of the money was you know the brick were great idea uh that was actually Robin's idea says buy a brick cuz we we reached to a certain point and we kind of hit Plateau there and you know we know it's tough times out there and it was the holidays and the bricks got us pretty much where we need to be we we're still having a little bit left to go to just cover
022the ex excavation work to put it in but other than that we're we're there so I'm noticing that there's still some empty bricks can people still purchase bricks yes yep yep they can the the Brick site is still up um I don't remember exactly off the top but I can send you the link find it and put the yeah it's on it's on their Facebook page uh Spencer and Penny Golden's forever you can find the link there and um it's super easy you just go right on there you donate put whatever you want on there and our Mason will install it so we're going to the last order will be taking uh the week of the marathon so if anybody wants a brick get it in then and then the last load will come in
023we hope to go all the way around it so we have about 50 more on that have already been purchased ready to go great great well Rich congratulations it's been great to see this process and to help support you through it and uh it's nice to see Jimmy he we first time we met him he was a little bit of a puppy and he's gotten much bigger hi Jimmy one and we have Jade around here somewh yes I I have I saw Jade yeah Jade is four month so we plan on being out here for the marathon right here seeing the runners run by and hopefully they get they stop and you know give a pat to Jimmy or hopefully a pat to Spencer nice well congratulations again thanks so much I appreciate it and
024we're just so happy to be here good thank you and that wraps up this section of our interview with Rich Powers who is the owner of Spencer and who helped get this statue here in Ashland