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Resident pleads for your help to preserve 'Letters to Newtown'

BY Josh Kerns  on February 7, 2013 @ 5:31 pm (Updated: 5:58 pm - 2/7/13 )

Ever since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, over half a million cards, letters and other outpourings of condolence and grief have flooded the Newtown town hall. And now the town is struggling to figure out what to do with them.

"The hallway where they're stored now is filled with people reading stuff and quietly weeping or sometimes they have to go outside. Powerful stuff," says longtime Newtown resident Ross MacDonald. He spoke Thursday with Ron and Don about the Letters to Newtown project, a campaign to preserve the posters, banners, paintings, quilts and flags filling the town hall.

"The town of Newtown doesn't have the resources. We want to see if we can get some help preserving them," MacDonald says.

MacDonald worries many of the overwhelming offerings will ultimately end up getting thrown out. The town has already incinerated the thousands of flowers, Teddy Bears and other gifts that were part of massive public memorials, with the ashes saved for a future memorial.

He says the town is emotionally overtaxed and simply lacks the funds and space to preserve everything. But he says they are a critical reminder of what happened and how the world responded. And he says they can be a powerful reminder as lawmakers consider what to do to curb gun violence.

"I've heard people say that if there was a permanent display of these in the capitol building, if the politicians had to walk by and look at them, it would be a lot easier to get some changes made, I think. You cannot see them and not be affected."

MacDonald admits many have brought him to tears as well, especially the notes from other children like a young girl who asked Santa to make sure he delivers letters from the victims of the shooting to their parents.

"When we saw them, just letter after letter after letter, there was just some incredible stuff, some very raw emotion and we kind of looked at each other and thought 'you know what, I don't think this stuff should be destroyed.'"

MacDonald has partnered with Mother Jones magazine and Tumblr to create a blog in hopes of making a digital record of all the cards and letters. And he's asking people to send a letter or email to Newtown encouraging leaders to preserve everything.

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
Josh Kerns is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle Sounds (Saturday nights 7-8) and a digital content producer for MyNorthwest.com.
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Comments (4)


  • Add A Comment

  • CH wrote...
    Lets see the
    February 9, 2013 5:45 am
    NRA Card!
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  • R L M 456 wrote...
    This apparently may surprise some of you
    February 9, 2013 9:24 am
    Some of us that own guns, find nothing but pain and sorrow from the Newtown murders

    It is sad that people think that just because we own a firearm

    we do not care about what happened to the Children

    some of us even feel sorrow for the OLD people that are murdered by gun play

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • andy123 wrote...
    What to do with letters and cards?
    February 9, 2013 5:28 pm
    Sell them with the proceeds after postage going first to the families and then the rest being donated to a charity geared towards children. If the price was reasonable, I'd buy a card sight unseen.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • tlmbrt wrote...
    The is all
    February 9, 2013 10:27 pm
    emotional pandering. It IS a tragedy, but it was committed by one mentally disturbed person. The problem is the BROKEN PEOPLE and the lack of basic empathy and morality in our culture. NOT guns themselves. We cry and memorialize and call for "change". But this is all an emotional, blind, knee jerk reaction. We should mourn and remember, but more LAWS will NOT stop the next shooting by an angry, crazy person.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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