3 years after Sandy Hook, some Newtown families cope through quiet activism

Kindness is important, especially in situation where revenge would be a likely response.

The new normal has settled into day-to-day life for the families of Sandy Hook’s victims in different ways. For some, the tragedy has sparked intense activism and advocacy to promote stricter gun control laws. It isn’t only gun control advocacy that has helped those in the community move forward, though. Some honor their loved ones in private, while others have found purpose by creating small, quieter movements. After the incident in Newtown, people around the country were encouraged to perform 26 acts of kindness to honor the lives of the 26 people who were killed. The idea endures three years later.

Life will never truly be back to normal for people who are impacted by these types of acts of mass violence. There will be a new normal. Recovery can take years, or it can take a lifetime.
Jamie Aten, co-founder of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College in Illinois

Joel and Joanne Bacon, father and mother of Charlotte, a 6-year-old who was killed in the shooting, took kindness advocacy one step further. They head up the organization Charlotte’s Litter, which pays homage to their animal-loving daughter. The mission of the program is to advocate and support therapy-dog programs by connecting those in need with resources. The Bacon family themselves received support through comfort and therapy dogs after the Newtown shooting. "A big part of the healing process is finding purpose in helping others,“ says Jamie Aten, co-founder of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College in Illinois.

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