Locals honor CT shooting victims with vigils, special projects
The gravity of Friday’s shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT has been weighing on the hearts of people around the country and the world this weekend.
In the Gem State, there’s been a great outpouring of love for the victim’s and their families.
On Sunday, our station spoke with several folks across the Snake River Plain who wanted the grieving families in Connecticut to know their pain is cradled in Idahoan hearts right now.
In Rexburg on Sunday night, families and neighbors gathered together to honor the memory of each Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim. Each of those 26 victims names were read aloud, as participants each held a single candle.
“It’s hard to lose somebody that you love,” said organizer Devane Holtom. “We just wanted to let them know, them and anyone else who’ve lost loved ones to violence, that we’re there for them.”
The Rexburg vigil honored the shooting victims. But, of course in the days and months to come, there will be great pain amongst those students and teachers at Sandy Hook who survived Friday’s shooting.
Rigby mom Teresa Danielson said she was so overcome with grief for the victims of the shooting, she desperately wanted to do something.
Danielson started a Facebook page called “Pictures of LOVE for Sandy Hook Elementary School.”
Danielson is inviting Idaho kids to draw a picture with their own idea of “love” on it. She’s collecting the pictures at various drop-off locations around eastern Idaho, and in Boise. By Dec. 26, she’ll be sending them to Connecticut.
“I hope that the people in Connecticut and the children who are there and who survived, they will know there are people in the United States that love them,” she said.
Information on how to submit pictures to the “Pictures of LOVE for Sandy Hook Elementary School” project, including drop off locations, can be found on the project’s Facebook page, here:
http://www.facebook.com/events/404611099615733/
Danielson said she was very pleased to see her movement spread across the country this weekend. After posting her Facebook page, pages like it have sprung up in California, Texas and many other states. She is also looking for donations to help with postage.
