____Anything negative I could write about Sandy Hook's tragedy is in all of our hearts, that sadness that permeates everything whenever we think of the victims. However, reading about how the parents of the victims have spent this first year without their kids has filled me with hope and joy. These people who have suffered the worst pain that a human being can go through, have found ways to honor the memories of their babies with more than admirable acts of kindness. I do not know if I'd been able to do the same, and that, without knowing them, makes me feel very proud of them.
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There's an organization that I love, called The Sandy Ground Project, where the angels play, which is taking care of rebuilding 26 parks, destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, in honor of the 26 children killed in their school a year ago.
There's another one, more dedicated to political issues called the Sandy Hook Promise, which seeks to amend the laws and public opinion in terms of gun control and mental health. There is a website called My Sandy Hook Family, where the heart you see in the picture appears and when you click on it, you can learn the stories of all those who died in that horrific act of senseless violence. You can visit it by clicking here.
There's also the Sandy Hook Family Fund, which has collected more than a million dollars to help the families of the victims. I imagine that the expenses for some of them must be astronomical. Counseling can get very expensive, and imagine all the work days lost and the many times they have needed help with their other children.
I can not write much more about this if I want to continue to contain the emotional storm this generates in me. I have a son who last year was in first grade, just like the little ones at Sandy Hook. Like him, they'd be in the second grade now, getting ready for Christmas. But I don't want to end this post without sharing this message from the victims' families:
On the one year mark of that horrific day, we know that many people across the country will be thinking of the children and educators so tragically taken from us, and wondering how to help. We ask that you consider performing an act of kindness or volunteering with a charitable organization in your local community. In this way, we hope that some small measure of good may be returned to the world.
This is all they ask from us today and I plan to oblige. An act of kindness is something as simple as paying for someone else's coffee, helping an old man cross the street or giving food to someone asking on the street. Will you participate?
Images via Getty Images and My Sandy Hook Family
