The Resiliency Center of Newtown (RCN) will host its 3rd Annual Gala on Friday, April 1, at The Waterview, 215 Roosevelt Drive (Route 34) in Monroe. This year's theme is "Strength In Community."Tickets for "Strength In Community," the third annual Resiliency Center of Newtown fundraising gala, are $150 each, and cover the full evening including cocktails, dinner, live music by an 11-piece orchestra, silent auction and open bar. Auction items already include original art; Coleman camping items including a large tent, sleeping bags, and cookware; a Coach bag; and a river cruise donated by Tauck. Tickets can be purchased at the center, at 153 South Main Street, and online at resiliencycenterofnewtown.org.The Waterview, where the gala will be taking place, is just over the Newtown-Monroe line at 215 Roosevelt Drive (Route 34) in Monroe.

Money raised through the evening will again go directly to RCN's wellness-based services, programs, workshops, and camps.

Since September 2013, RCN has been offering programs for all ages, including coffee breaks, therapeutic massage, art therapy, knitting/support groups, brain health first aid courses, reiki sessions, brainspotting, book talks, and much more.

All offerings are at no charge to those impacted by the 12/14 tragedy in the greater Newtown community. Funding for the center, in The SCB Building at 153 South Main Street, has long been dependent on grants and donations.

This year's fundraiser may have more importance than the previous two for the privately funded nonprofit organization.

"Our largest grant is ending March 31, so all of the money that is raised at the gala will go toward being able to sustain our services at the level they are, free of charge to the community," Stephanie Cinque, MSW, founder and director of RCN, said March 16.

To help organizers with the decorating for the upcoming fundraiser, a special program was hosted by RCN on March 4. Children were invited to spend up to 90 minutes at RCN, decorating paper starfish.

The starfish has become a symbol for RCN, Ms Cinque said this week, based on a short story by Loren Eisely. In that story, a man walking along a beach early one morning encounters a boy gently throwing starfish into the ocean. When he asks the boy why he is doing that, the boy tells the man that the starfish would die if they were not returned to the water.

When the man tells the boy that there are hundreds of starfish along the miles of beach, and that he cannot possibly save all of them, the boy continues his task but politely tells the man he made a different for each starfish that he did put back into the ocean.

"So we say at RCN that we're making a difference one person at a time," Ms Cinque said.

Art therapist Lisa Donohue-Olivieri oversaw the craft project a few weeks ago, when ten children decorated dozens of the precut starfish. Tables in a side room at the center were laden with art supplies, from markers and crayons to glue, glitter and small pom-poms and more.

For an hour and a half that Friday afternoon, the group created unique decorations, many with positive messages. The children, said Ms Donohue-Olivieri, were encouraged to decorate as many starfish as they wanted, and some responded by making up to a dozen of the symbolic sea creatures. The finished works of art will be part of the decorations in the entryway of The Waterview on April 1, Ms Donohue-Olivieri said.

Meanwhile, local artist Dave Brooker was beginning to see the culmination of another art project that was planned for the fundraiser. Mr Brooker, who has created art projects for RCN in the past, was asked if he would organize something for this year's gala.

Mr Brooker jumped at the opportunity, he said March 4, and began formulating ideas around the event's theme.

"I decided to reach out to the art community," he said. "I like the idea of a community of artists, a micro-community, supporting the whole community."

Mr Brooker's idea was to have individual artists create one letter from the gala's theme of Strength In Community. He only gave the artists the size of the space into which each letter has to fit, but left the medium up to each artist.

"I wanted a finer look, from a variety of mediums," he said.

On a recent Sunday morning, Mr Brooker sent a number of e-mails out to artists he knew, keeping his list to "Newtown-centric folks," he said.

"I reached out to people who live here, or work in town, or who were raised here," he said. Mr Brooker also reached across all age groups, from school children as young as 8 years old to senior citizens.

He heard back from everyone within hours.

"I had all Yeses by that evening," he said. "It blew my mind that the response was so quick, and fantastic. I almost wish it was a longer phrase, so I could employ dozens of people. I just love how all this is coming together."

As he spoke, Mr Brooker carefully lifted up some of the first letters that had already arrived for the project: a square piece of wood with a C in the center, fashioned to look like an oversize Scrabble tile; a bent-wire I; an S crafted from handmade paper and ink; and a very intricate collage piece that features papier mache, wire, small resin figures for an elaborate T, among the early arrivals.

The finished set of letters will be displayed at the gala next month. Attendees will be invited to sponsor the letter of their choice, Mr Brooker said. Sponsorships will begin at $25 each, although larger donations will certainly be welcomed. After the gala, the collection of letters will go on permanent display at RCN.

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