Solace from snowflakes

Scarborough is among the local libraries taking part in a project to create a winter wonderland for Sandy Hook children.

(NOTE: For some reason, the only version of this story that exists in my files is this unfinished draft in which I was missing the parents' names, while the only one published online is a similar story prepared by Kate Irish Collins. So, you'll need to track down a print version for the full deets and the photos I took.)

SCARBOROUGH — Simple paper snowflakes are being used to send a powerful message of support and love to Sandy Hook Elementary School and the community of Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 schoolchildren and six teachers on Dec. 14.

The goal of what’s been dubbed the Snowflakes for Sandy Hook project is to create a winter wonderland in the former middle school where students and staff from Sandy Hook will resume to class after the Christmas break, according to the Connecticut Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA), which is spearheading the project.

The snowflakes project got its start a few days before Christmas and already the Connecticut PTSA has received many boxes of paper snowflakes from organizations across the state. Now, the project has gone global, with people all around the United States and the world taking part.

In Maine, it’s the libraries that have answered the call to provide snowflakes to the Sandy Hook community, including those in Scarborough, Windham, Westbrook, Gorham, Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard Beach.

Louise Capizzo, the youth services librarian in Scarborough, says she heard abut the project on the Maine Library Association’s listserv, thanks to postings by Anne Davis, director at the Gardiner Public Library.

“We have a couple of students from the middle school who are regulars here after school,” said Capizzo last week, explaining her desire to take part in the project. “On the day the Sandy Hook event was unfolding there, they were in here watching events unfold on their laptops and they were truly upset.

“So, the next week, when this project came about, I though they would really like this opportunity to reach out."

Sure enough, 15 middle-schoolers pitched in to make dozens of paper snowflakes. Since then, Capizzo has left out paper, scissors and information about the project, so other library patrons can join in.

On Friday, Scarborough residents Ethan Martin, 5, and his sister Roselyn, 4, took time to cut out several additions to Scarborough’s snowflake pile.

“We want to make a bunch to show that we care about all the little children,” said Ethan, as he made cut after meticulous cut to his pattern.

“I think it’s nice,” said his mother ////////////XX. “It’s kind of at a level where the kids feel like they’re helping without adding too much detail about the negative aspects of it.”

“They’ve had questions, but we’ve been a little guarded in how we’ve talked about it, so we don’t scare them or give them too much,” said the children’s father, ///////////

“We’ve talked about them being little angels now,” said //////////XXmother Martin. “We talked a little bit about what they’re doing here, that it’s for their friends, because it’ll make their friends happy because they don’t have those little angels with them right now.”

In Gardner, Davis said she was tipped off to the project by Jamie Dacyczyn, who works at the Gardiner Police Department. According to Davis, Dacyczyn is “a master at creating beautiful snowflakes with paper and scissors.” 

“She decorates all of the municipal buildings (in Gardiner) with these gorgeous works of art,” Davis said. “She wanted to have (a snowflake) workshop and realized that a partnership with (the library) was perfect.”

Davis said with a little help from a post on the library’s Facebook page and the local newspaper, more than 50 people showed up to take part in the workshop and create snowflakes to send to Sandy Hook Elementary. 

She wanted libraries across Maine, to get involved with the snowflake project because “public libraries, just like our public schools, should be places of safety and learning for our children. What happened in Newtown frightened me because it is ‘Anywhere, USA’ and this could have been our kids, our teachers, our friends. We needed to create a conduit for our community to help heal our broken hearts.”

She’s thrilled that other libraries in Maine have jumped on board and are taking part in the snowflake effort.

“I am more pleased than I can ever tell you,” Davis said. “We needed to do something. We needed to show Newtown that there is still a sense of innocence and wonder for most children.”

She said the snowflake project is important because it’s a healing activity and it also gives people who want to help or show support for the Sandy Hook community something positive and constructive to do.

Davis’ sister works in a primary school in Granby, Conn., which may be one reason the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary hit so close to home for her. But, she also said, “these small victims are our nation’s kids and we all feel the sorrow.”

James Martinez, spokesman for the National PTA, which is handling all media requests regarding the Sandy Hook tragedy on behalf of the Connecticut PTSA, said that the snowflake project is “definitely designed for people nationwide and around the world to take part in.”

He said the Connecticut association is prepared to accept a deluge of paper snowflakes on behalf of the Sandy Hook community and said it would be great if the parent-teacher group could receive “as many snowflakes as possible. This is one way people can show support and do something to make a difference.”

Martinez said the Connecticut PTSA has already received numerous boxes of snowflakes, but since the former middle school where the Sandy Hook children will be sent is furnished but not decorated, he said lots of snowflakes would be needed in order to decorate the entire school.

“This project is important and significant on so many levels,” Martinez said.

That’s why so many libraries in southern Maine are taking part, and are hoping their patrons will also embrace the idea.

At the Windham Public Library, Sally Bannen, the adult services librarian, liked the snowflake idea so much she immediately put out a display with paper, pens and scissors for patrons to make their own paper snowflakes.

She said the project was also something families could do at home over the holiday break. The Windham library is collecting the snowflakes until Jan. 7.

“I imagine they’re going to be inundated with snowflakes,” Bannen said of the Sandy Hook community. “(I’m just) hoping folks coming into the library might take a moment and think of the families and what they’re going through and maybe make a snowflake, which will also make them feel like they’re somehow contributing. I know there’s nothing we can do to fix it, but this is a way to show our support.”

Brooke Faulkner, the young adult librarian at McArthur Library in Biddeford, agreed. She said the reason she brought the snowflake project to the attention of local teens is because “most of us are wracking our brains about what we could possibly do to help out.”

She also said the snowflake project was a great way to “open up the topic of the shooting. Kids are certainly talking about it. A lot of our teens are showing their feelings. They just can’t believe what happened and they can’t understand it.”

While Faulkner and those touting the snowflake project know it's not a cure-all, they also say it’s a positive thing to do in the face of such horror.

Laura Vickery, the children’s librarian at the Dyer Library in Saco, planned on putting out paper snowflake supplies the day after Christmas.

“I think this is a good way for people to reach out so those in Connecticut know just how many of us are thinking of them,” Vickery said.

She also said that the snowflakes are great because each one is unique, just like the children who were killed.

At the Libby Library in Old Orchard Beach, director Lee Koenigs said the snowflake project is “absolutely something we want to do. Despite everything, we are really trying to stay in the holiday mood here.”

Corinne Sachs, the youth librarian, at Walker Memorial Library in Westbrook, was planning to push the snowflakes project on Dec. 22, which she expected to be a busy day for the library as families come in looking for books and videos for the Christmas break.

She said what’s great about the snowflakes is that the library serves so many children that are the same age as those killed in Connecticut and this is something they “can understand and connect with. It’s definitely a meaningful way for them to spend their time.”