The Sandy Hook Victims! A Memoriam and How you can HELP!
We all know by now what has happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School. But enough about Adam Lanza. We need to focus on the 26 that was killed mostly children. On Saturday, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver said all the victims at the school were shot with a rifle, at least some of them up close, and all of them were apparently shot more than once. All six adults killed at the school were women. Of the 20 children, eight were boys and 12 were girls. All the children were 6 or 7 years old.
Asked how many bullets were fired, Carver said, "I'm lucky if I can tell you how many I found."
The tragedy plunged Newtown into mourning and added the picturesque New England community of handsome colonial homes, red-brick sidewalks and 27,000 people to the grim map of towns where mass shootings in recent years have periodically reignited the national debate over gun control but led to little change.
Signs around town read, "Hug a teacher today," `'Please pray for Newtown" and "Love will get us through."
"People in my neighborhood are feeling guilty about it being Christmas. They are taking down decorations," said Jeannie Pasacreta, a psychologist who was advising parents struggling with how to talk to their children.
The list of the dead was released Saturday, but in the tightly knit town, nearly everyone already seemed to know someone who died.
Among the dead: well-liked Principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, who town officials say tried to stop the rampage and paid with her life; school psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, who probably would have helped survivors grapple with the tragedy; a teacher thrilled to have been hired this year; and a 6-year-old girl who had just moved to Newtown from Canada.
"Next week is going to be horrible," said the town's legislative council chairman, Jeff Capeci, thinking about the string of funerals the town will face. "Horrible, and the week leading into Christmas."
School board chairwoman Debbie Leidlein spent Friday night meeting with parents who lost children and shivered as she recalled those conversations. "They were asking why. They can't wrap their minds around it. Why? What's going on?" she said. "And we just don't have any answers for them." And neither do we. But I believe that they are now “Absent from the body and present with God” never to worry about pain and suffering. However it I our responsibility to keep their families in our thoughts and prayers as this will be a very rough time for them going forward!
With that said here are the victims of The Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre. Some pictures are not available as some family members may not chosen to release any (understandbly so) All photos were provided by the families.
1. Emilie Alice Parker.
Parker was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school.
2. Noah Pozner.
The six-year-old was one of the victims in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting
3. Lauren Rousseau, 30,
had started a job as a full-time teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School this fall
4. School psychologist Mary Sherlach, 56, was killed during an attempt to stop gunman Adam Lanza.
Sherlach and school principal Dawn Hochsprung reportedly both lunged at Lanza in an attempt to protect the school's students and teachers. Both Sherlach and Hochsprung were killed.
5. Victoria Soto, a 27-year-old teacher, was killed.
Her cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC that Soto, a teacher, died while shielding her young students from the gunman.
6. Sandy Hook Elementary School Principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47,
Dawn was killed as she, along with school psychologist Mary Sherlach, attempted to overtake gunman Adam Lanza during the Dec. 14 mass shooting at the school.
The rest of the victims are below and are in a group photo
7. Charlotte Bacon, 6
8. Daniel Barden, 7
9. Rachel Davino, 29
10. Olivia Engel, 6
11. Josephine Gay, 7
12. Ana M Marquez-Greene, 6
13. Dylan Hockley, 6
14. Dawn Hocksprung, 47
15. Madeline F. Hsu, 6
16. Catherine V. Hubbard, 6
17. Chase Kowalski, 7
18. Jesse Lewis, 6
19. James Mattioli, 6
20. Grace McDonnell, 7
21. Anne Marie Murphy, 52
22. Jack Pinto, 6
23. Caroline Previdi, 6
24. Jessica Rekos, 6
25. Avielle Richman, 6
26. Benjamin Wheeler, 6
27. Nancy Lanza (Mother of the shooter)
Here's Heartbreaking home video of
Ana Marquez-Greene
Here's a Tribute to The Victims and Families
As the community reels, organizations are setting up ways to help through donations and support.
An official fund for victims' families, and the community as a whole, has now been established: The Sandy Hook School Support Fund, set up by the United Way of Western Connecticut will provide support services to families and the community. All donations to this fund will go directly to those affected.
The Red Cross has also been on the ground, offering food and water to first responders, and providing more than 50 units of blood to Danbury hospital where some of the victims were transported. They have set up a center for emergency grief counseling.
In addition, the nonprofit mental health clinic Newtown Youth and Family Services will be open all weekend from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for grief counseling. They say all donations made at this time will go to helping those impacted.
The Newtown Parent Connection has also pledged to try and bring in extra counselors to help parents cope.
Some private funds have also been set up in the wake of the tragedy to help victims. The Newtown Memorial fund is taking donations for the families and community affected, and is also actively recruiting volunteers and offers of help of all kinds. A fund has also been set up to help the family of 6 year old Emilie Parker, who was killed at Sandy Hook. For ways to help her family you can visit the fund's Facebook page.
For families from the Newtown area, and even beyond, a pressing problem will be how to help children cope with the aftermath of this tragedy -- and indeed how to give parents space to grieve, knowing their children are being looked after. To that end, Save The Children has opened a "child-friendly space" in Newtown to give kids a place to play and express themselves while parents seek support or counseling. The space is located in Newtown's Reed Intermediate School, where students of Sandy Hook elementary go after graduating.
In addition, Save The Children has released 10 tips for parents wondering how to help their children deal with their feelings about such a traumatic event, such as spending extra time with your kids, and limiting TV time.
A number of other organizations, such as the National Association of School Psychologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have released recommendations for parents and teachers as to how to support children if they want to talk about what happened.
You can send words of support and messages for families affected in an evergram HERE. They will be collated and given to the families in the future.
The Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection says anyone wishing to volunteer should call 211 or (800) 203-1234.
PLEASE REMEMBER THESE VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!
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