The following letter was sent to our Club by John Gordon, District Governor, District 7010...

Dear Rotarians:

On behalf of Newtown Rotary Club, my sincere thanks to all of you for your messages of support and offers to help. There has been a tremendous outpouring from across the nation and all over the world, Australia have a particular affinity to our District, thanks to PDG Alan Hurst who was a GSE Leader to that country.

Let me tell you of the action plan devised by the Newtown Club;

We are fortunate to have a small Club Foundation and the Board of that Foundation will be approving the establishment of the "Newtown Rotary Sandy Hook School Fund" with the purpose -

'Dedicated to the victims of this tragedy and their families, for both their short and long term needs.'

This is a somewhat comprehensive way of saying we will be helping those victims that need to cover the cost of counselling, which may well be long term, in addition there may be needs such as funeral expenses. Longer term and dependent on funding we may well need to help with schooling costs or possibly a memorial. This is obviously a fluid situation and the Board will adjust the thinking to suit the needs of the time.

The effect of this horror will be felt for a very long time and Newtown Rotary Club members are committed to supporting the Community for as long as it takes. Sandy Hook School is a wonderful school and we have worked with them over the years with such things as the Dictionary Project and we hope it will not be too long before we are visiting the school again, distributing books.

If any club would like to help this cause please refer to the club website
http://www.newtownctrotaryclub.org/ for contact information; this site will be updated from time to time with progress reports.

We have already heard from East Hampton who will actually be joining us on Monday as a show of support. Beacon Falls is organizing a fund raiser and Gloucester MA ise seeking a partner in the District for a Teddy Bear fundraiser. Anyone interested, please call me and I will put you in contact.

We are all still in a state of shock following this tragedy. There will be a town wide vigil on Sunday but please keep the families and children and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in your prayers.

Thank You.

Yours in Rotary Service,

Frederick Brian Amey
    

www.newtownctrotaryclub.org