The following statement was issued by the Connecticut PTSA:

In the weeks leading up to the opening of Sandy Hook Elementary School at Chalk Hill, many schools and PTAs asked, “What can we do?” In response, the Newtown Schools PTA Leadership, sought help from the Connecticut PTSA to send out a call for Snowflakes for Sandy Hook, suggesting that students and teachers across the country make and send snowflakes to decorate the halls of our new building.

The response far exceeded anyone’s expectations. More than a million snowflakes of all shapes, sizes and forms arrived from schools, PTAs, community centers, and families from around the world. Many of these snowflakes have decorated the halls of our school as well as sister schools in Newtown and across Monroe. Parent volunteers even prepared small boxes of handpicked snowflakes that each Sandy Hook School student and staff member could take home, so they could experience their own personal blizzard of heartwarming support.

We had a simple goal – we just wanted give people a way to reach out to us and a way to dress up a building, said Tracey Jaeger, President of the Sandy Hook School PTA.  Instead, our whole community received a much more powerful gift – the very precious reminder that people are inherently good and, when given the opportunity, they very much want to help. For that, we are humbled and forever grateful.

Though Snowflakes for Sandy Hook has wrapped up and the school year is coming to a close, National PTA and the Connecticut PTSA will continue to stand by the Newtown community. Once again, we want to thank each and every child, school, community, and country that took the time to cut out a snowflake or write a letter in solidarity with the Sandy Hook School.