The benches began showing up around town last month, inviting those passing by to pause, rest, and remember. By early this week, private contractors, Parks and Recreation employees, and town employees had installed ten of the benches in places as diverse as The Pleasance on Main Street, tucked in next to the rabbit cottage at the back of the property; or at Ferris Farms Creamery, offering an overview of the Creamery and fields across Route 302.

Eventually, 26 benches honoring those killed 12/14 will populate private and town properties in Newtown, due in large part to the efforts of Mark Sigrist of Columbus, Ohio.

Mr Sigrist was one of the earliest people to contact the town with an offer of providing a memorial, said Parks and Recreation Director Amy Mangold, and one of the most persistent, even as town officials struggled to sort through an unexpected deluge of similar offers. His idea was for 26 benches, each with a plaque personalized by the families of the 26 victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, December 14, 2012.

He launched his fundraiser in January 2013, said Ms Mangold. According to the Facebook page, facebook.com/twentysixbenches, the goal of $26,000 to cover the purchase and installation of the benches was achieved in just six months.

“Mr Sigrist contacted Parks and Recreation at a very early stage to advise us of his endeavor,” said Edward Marks, a member of the Newtown Parks & Recreation Commission. “At that time, Newtown had not yet established a means to catalog or track the many offers of donations, gifts, and services that were being offered. Thus, Parks and Recreation gratefully endorsed Mr Sigrist’s efforts, and continued to stay in frequent contact with him as donations continued to flow in,” he said.

The fundraising added up to $29,000 toward the project, Mr Marks said, covering the cost of the benches and plaques “with a modest balance remaining.” The balance was applied toward the cost of installing each bench.

Although Mr Sigrist had a daughter attending SUNY Purchase at the time of the Sandy Hook School shooting, that was only a small part of the reason he felt moved to provide some kind of lasting memorial, he said in a telephone interview, Wednesday, August 5.

“Generally, people — especially people with children — really hurt for those families and the children. The idea of offering something long-term, for reflection, seemed a way to honor the children and the teachers,” he said.

“I wanted some gift that would be appreciated by the town and the families,” Mr Sigrist added. He came up with the idea for 26 benches almost immediately, he said, and within 72 hours, had reserved and registered the domain name for 26benches.com, and began fundraising. The donations flowed directly to Newtown Parks and Recreation, and each week, the local office updated him as to the status of the fundraising.

“Amy [Mangold] and RoseAnn [Reggiano] were huge on helping us work through this, logistically,” Mr Sigrist said.

He was thrilled that within six months he had to cease fundraising, having exceeded the goal of $26,000.

“The idea resonated with a lot of schools around the country,” he said, including one Ohio elementary class that having previously fundraised, was unable to agree on a charity to received the money they had raised. When a class member brought in a newspaper article about 26 Benches, the class unanimously decided to contribute the more than $1,000 to the effort.

He did visit Newtown in February 2013, and with Mr Marks, explored the town parks and recreational areas. Imagining the benches in these kinds of natural settings seemed appropriate, he said.

A Slow Deliberate Process

Mr Sigrist  is happy that the benches are finally being placed in Newtown.

“It has taken a while,” he said, “and rightly so, to do it right, and gently, and tenderly. It’s nice that a small town has given such TLC to the project.”

One day, he hopes to return to Newtown and see the finished project.

“It’s more important to me that the families had a chance to receive something from a grassroots effort. Maybe,” he said, “they’ll feel the love and care of the people behind it.”

With the commission facilitating the numerous offers, it took time to work out the details, said Ms Mangold. Even so, she said, in actuality Mr Sigrist’s dedication moved the project forward at a good pace.

“Every time we told him something else we had to consider, he just went forward with the request,” said Ms Mangold. Because the benches were intended to commemorate those who died 12/14, Parks and Recreation understood that the offer had to be handled sensitively, and Mr Sigrist was always accommodating to those needs.

“We didn’t want to just reach out to the families,” she said, about where they wanted to place the benches or engraving the plaques. Knowing that the town had commissioned the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Committee (SHPMC) to determine if a memorial was desired and what that would look like, Parks and Recreation approached SHPMC Chairman Kyle Lyddy, and presented the offer of the benchs.

The information on the benches was presented to that committee, some of whom lost loved ones 12/14, and was approved, said Ms Mangold. Mr Lyddy also assisted by sending information to the 26 families as to input on site selection for each bench and the plaque inscriptions.

“Parks and Rec then worked with the families,” she said, as to the installation, accommodating the location requests as best they could. Because some of the sites requested were on private property, Parks and Recreation needed permission from those owners before moving ahead.

“Mark was extremely supportive of our need to move slowly and deliberately in working with families to determine possible locations and personalized plaques,” said Mr Marks. “Mark has continued to be supportive of our efforts to manage this process and we are extremely thankful that he has exhibited great patience as we work with families to finalize locations and messages,” he said.

Placing The Benches

Initially, the department heard back from 12 families, and ten of those benches have been installed.

Four can be found at Treadwell Park, commemorating first graders Jack Pinto and James Mattioli, and educators Anne Marie Murphy and Mary Sherlach.

The family of Jesse Lewis selected the Eichler’s Cove location, and a bench dedicated to the memory of Grace McDonnell can be found at Ferris Farms Creamery.

One bench, for Emilie Parker, is placed at Dickinson Park, and a bench by Lake Lillinonah honors Jessica Rekos.

Two benches, one for Ben Wheeler and one for Charlotte Bacon, are located in The Pleasance.

Parks and Recreation is currently working on two requests for benches to be placed outside of Newtown.

Each black steel bench comfortably seats three adults, the wide slats on the seat dipping back gently, then rising up to meet the graceful arch of the back frame. The bronze plaques are centrally placed on the back of the bench.

Some of the remaining benches have also been installed on public property, Ms Mangold said, and as the department hears back from the families, plaques will be engraved and attached. Five of the benches have not been installed, and are being reserved to be placed at specific locations, as more families respond, she said.

“We did not want to tell families it was ever too late to have a bench installed,” said Ms Mangold.