Tomorrow, the Sandy Hook students will return to school at a new location, a repurposed middle school in the neighboring town of Monroe, Conn. For those of you looking for ways to support this community as it starts on its new venture, consider checking in with the organizations that are directly supporting them, such as the Newtown Parent Connection, Inc. and the Connecticut PTSA, to find out what is and isn’t needed at this time.
For example, the snowflakes project launched by the PTSA has closed. The Connecticut PTSA had started this program, which called for school children to create and send paper snowflakes to the Sandy Hook community, immediately following the tragedy. Apparently, it received so many snowflakes that it is now asking that schools do snowflake projects at their own schools and send photos of their work to Sandy Hook as a show of support.
Some other ideas:
Community service to honor Sandy Hook: The PTSA also recommends that schools set up a community service project this year in memory of the students. Sandy Hook’s principal, Dawn Hochsprung, who perished in the Dec. 14 tragedy, started a community service program she called Project Eagle to encourage elementary school kids to help others. Schools could run their own Project Eagle effort as a tribute to the Sandy Hook principal.
Sign a national condolence card on behalf of your school: Be one of the more than 2.5 million who have signed what’s been dubbed a Global Sympathy Card for Sandy Hook.
Hold a remembrance day at your school: The T.C. Miller Elementary School for Innovation in Lynchburg, Va., held a Sandy Hook day at its own school. Many staff wore green and white, the colors of Sandy Hook, and then they created a large banner for all the students to sign. The plan was to gather all the students for a school photo and to send it, along with the banner, to Sandy Hook.
Reach out to others in need: Consider holding a collection for other children in need in memory of the Sandy Hook children. An act of kindness in their names will help keep their memories alive.
Also, you can find additional resources for reaching out to the Newtown families listed in our December blog.
