Connecticut School Shooting Victims Honored With 26 Christmas Trees
A line of 26 Christmas trees donated to the Connecticut school shooting victims were lined up outside Sandy Hook Elementary School on Sunday morning.
The Christmas trees, donated by an anonymous person outside the community, were a sad reminder of the lives lost tragically just a little more than a week before the “happiest time of the year.”
The Daily Mail notes that the donator, from North Carolina, was moved to action when he saw an advertisement for a Christmas tree sale at the Sandy Hook fire department while watching the coverage of the shooting.
The 26 Christmas trees, one for each victim at the school, were decorated by women and children helping out at the fire station. The five-foot-tall trees were then lined up in an area leading towards the school where so many lost their lives on Friday.
Several memorials have been set up around Newtown to honor the Connecticut school shooting victims, including a makeshift one around the school sign. Around 3 pm on Saturday, firefighters started unloading the 26 Christmas trees, placing them on the road in a line. Victorai Stein, 17, who came to honor the victims of the massacre, stated:
“Everything they have been doing has been wonderful. This is a wonderful gesture, it will help all those who have been touched around the world by the outrage.”
Pictures of the trees also showed up on Twitter, with users writing:
26 Christmas trees outside of Sandy Hook firehouse were donated by someone outside of the community, 1 for each victim twitter.com/shushwalshe/st…
— Shushannah Walshe (@shushwalshe) December 15, 2012
Volunteer firefighters decorating Christmas trees by Sandy Hook. #Newtown twitter.com/thomaskaplan/s…
— Thomas Kaplan (@thomaskaplan) December 15, 2012
#SandyHook first responders decorate Christmas trees in honor of #newtownsho @ Sandy Hook Vol. Fire Co. Inc. instagr.am/p/TRkUghRQqx/
— Kerry Kavanaugh (@KerryWSB) December 15, 2012
While it is certainly upsetting to the families and friends of the victims that they will not get to see their loved ones for the holidays, the 26 Christmas trees donated to the Connecticut school shooting victims are a reminder the support those families have from people outside the community.
