Children Record Song to Benefit Newtown, Connecticut Causes
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DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — One month after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and six teachers dead, the children of Newtown, Conn., are eager to help their community.
“So many of the students came to me the day of the tragedy, the day after the tragedy. And all I could see in their eyes, and you know, from what they were telling me is ‘how do we help’?” local music school owner Sabrina Post told ABC’s Good Morning America in an interview that aired on Tuesday.
The children made banners. They drew pictures and helped create memorials. They tied green and white ribbons — the school’s colors. But they still weren’t satisfied.
So 21 children gathered at the Connecticut home of Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, both of the legendary rock band Talking Heads, to record a song that they hope will raise money for Newtown. The children are mostly current or former students of Sandy Hook Elementary.
“My hope is that the kids from Sandy Hook School will have a hit record, you know?” Frantz, the band’s drummer, said. “And I think they have a pretty good chance.”
Singer Ingrid Michaelson was asked to lend her voice to the project — a cover of the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
“I thought, well, you know, even if it makes these kids who have been through so much, if it brings them and afternoon of joy and excitement then that’s what I can do, then that’s what I’ll do,” she said, adding, “I think there’s nothing more hopeful than hearing children’s voices in unison all together. So yeah, I think people will feel that way, I hope so.”
Kayla Verga, 10, sang for her friend, 6-year-old Jessica Rekos, who was one of the students killed when Adam Lanza went on his Dec. 14 shooting rampage at the school.
“Singing the song makes me feel like she’s with me and she’s beside me, singing along with me,” Kayla told GMA.
Barrett DeYoung, 13, said he participated because she wants to help the survivors at her former school in “any way we can.”
Jane Shearin, 10, a Sandy Hook Elementary School student, sang because she wanted to help.
“I really want to be kind to the people who have lost their loved ones and help them to recover from their sorrow,” she said, adding that she hoped “someday our world will be peaceful and loving, no violence at all.”
The children’s recording will be available Tuesday on Amazon.com and iTunes.com. All proceeds will go towards the Newtown Youth Academy and the United Way of Western Connecticut.
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