NEWTOWN, Conn. — Newtown’s children were showered with gifts Saturday — tens of thousands of teddy bears, Barbie dolls, soccer balls and board games — and those are only some of the tokens of support from around the world for the town in mourning.
Just a little over a week ago, 20 children and six school employees were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, attacked the school, then killed himself. Police don’t know what set off the massacre.
Days before Christmas, funerals were still being held Saturday, the last of those whose schedules were made public, according to the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association. A service was held in Utah for 6-year-old Emilie Parker. Others were held in Connecticut for Josephine Gay, 7, and Ana Marquez-Greene, 6.
All of Newtown’s children were invited to Edmond Town Hall, where they could choose a toy. Bobbi Veach, who was fielding donations at the building, reflected on the outpouring of gifts from toy stores, organizations and individuals around the world.
“It’s their way of grieving,” Veach said. “They say, ‘I feel so bad, I just want to do something to reach out.’ That’s why we accommodate everybody we can.”
The United Way of Western Connecticut said the official fund for donations had $2.8 million in it on Saturday. Peter Leone said he was busy making deli sandwiches and working the register at his Newtown General Store when he got a phone call from Alaska. It was a woman who wanted to give him her credit card number.
“She said, ‘I’m paying for the next $500 of food that goes out your door,”’ Leone said. “About a half hour later another gentleman called, I think from the West Coast, and he did the same thing for $2,000.”
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