Similar to groups that have popped up across the country (You Know You Grew Up In [insert town name here] If…), members talk about things they remember while growing up or living in Newtown, prompting others to share their own memories.

“It was a lot of fun,” she said recently. “There were so many posts that brought back memories, either through the names of people posting them or what they were talking about.”

One of the group’s recurring themes was the rooster atop Newtown Meeting House and who shot the holes in it so many years ago. Local lore has it that French infantrymen led by General Rochambeau during the during the Revolutionary War supposedly used it for target practice while passing through town in June–July 1781. Town Historian Dan Cruson has said that while it is true someone has shot at the rooster, the work was probably done during the 20th Century and not the 18th. Nevertheless, the legend lives on.

“I kept seeing that so many times, so one day as a joke, I said I did it,” said Ms Hensel. “And then this idea came to me. I put that line — I shot the rooster — to the tune of ‘I Shot The Sheriff,’ and then added another line: But I did not take the bumblebee.”

The bumblebee she is referencing is the weathervane atop The Newtown Bee’s office building, which was stolen once or twice in the newspaper’s history.

“Suddenly I had this tune going through my head, and someone suggested I should make T-shirts with that on it,” said Ms Hensel.

After thinking about the suggestion for a while, earlier this summer Ms Hensel let the idea return. She began toying with the idea of making up some T-shirts featuring the iconic rooster, but wanted to sell them to benefit someone or something else. It was while Ms Hensel was having dinner with some friends one night that a discussion by friend Una Lucy, who also grew in Newtown, made it an easy decision.

“Una started talking about being hungry as a kid, how she would have a cupboard open and there would only be one can of something to eat, and she wouldn’t eat it because she knew it was the last thing her family had at that time,” said Ms Hensel. The idea of using Ms Hensel’s T-shirts to raise funds for FAITH Food Pantry — which provides food for any Newtown resident who comes to the door of St John’s Church in Sandy Hook on Tuesday mornings or early Thursday evenings — was made.

“I began reading about FAITH, and the parade, and put those two ideas together,” Ms Hensel said recently.

The project has kicked into high gear, with Ms Hensel working with her sister, Laura (Hensel) Conway, to create a design. The center of the front of each T-shirt features the familiar rooster weathervane, weathered bullet holes and all. Above the rooster are the words “I Shot,” and then below the rooster are the lines “The Rooster / But I did not steal the bumble BEE / To Benefit FAITH 2012.”

The shirts are being printed on stone blue Hanes 6.1-ounce Beefy T shirts, with the logo and lettering done in white. Ms Hensel is covering the cost of the T-shirts, but she was given a pleasant surprise when she visited Newtown Municipal Center recently.

“I went in to find out what I needed to do to sell these during the parade, and found out I would need a vendor’s license,” she said. So she filled out and submitted the necessary paperwork. Then she was told that First Selectman Pat Llodra not only signed it immediately, but also waived the vendor fee because it was a fundraiser for a nonprofit entity.

“I really appreciated that,” Ms Hensel said. “That was such a nice thing to do.”

It also saved Ms Hensel a few hundred dollars. Vendor’s licenses in Newtown can run up to $250.

“I’m paying for these upfront, yes, but I’m having a lot of fun doing this,” she said.

“They look great,” she said this week, sharing a preview of what Naugatuck-based Graven Imagery has created for her.

T-shirts have been ordered, and will be sold during the Labor Day Parade on Monday, September 3. Cheryl and friends will be walking along the parade route, selling the shirts for $15 each — and if you don’t want to wait until September 3, Ms Hensel is also accepting orders via e-mail. Shirts will be available by August 17.

“I’ve already had one friend, Widget McLaughlin, order five of them, sight unseen,” she said. “That was a great way to start.”

FAITH Food Pantry Director Lee Paulsen was pleased recently with the newest fundraiser.

“I think it’s great,” Mrs Paulsen said. “I can’t tell you how much it means to us when someone goes out of their way for us like this.”

Orders can be e-mailed to allOUTeffort@live.com. Send Ms Hensel your name, mailing address, the number and sizes of shirts being ordered, and a contact phone number. Her mailing address will be given upon contact, and she is requesting $3 to cover postage for pre-parade orders.

Donations Always Welcomed

Volunteers with FAITH Food Pantry were overwhelmed recently by the community’s response to a recent plea to replenish the empty cupboards at the food pantry. FAITH is now able to continue to service Newtown and Sandy Hook residents in need for the time being, but continues to be faced by ongoing challenges.

The recent closing of Andrea’s Pastry Shop means the pantry no longer receives bread and pastry donations that had been made by owner and baker Tony Posca on a weekly basis.

The food pantry did recently receive some good news, however: One Can Make(s) A Difference will be conducted during the Labor Day parade.

Girl Scout Breanne Lubinsky created the event three years ago, for the 2009 Labor Day Parade, asking residents to bring a donation for the food pantry with them when they attended the parade. Volunteers joined Breanne in walking the parade, picking up plastic bags from spectators along the length of the route. Breanne continued the event during her junior and senior years at Newtown High School, and then handed the project over to Boy Scout Spencer Erhardt for last year’s parade.

With both students now in college — meaning they are not home for the parade, nor the days leading up to it for organization — there was a fear that the Fourth Annual One Can collection would not happen this year.

Linda Lubinsky, Breanne’s mother, told The Bee this week that the collection will indeed take place.

“We are at the end of Division One, so just keep an eye out for us — watch for us in our bright orange T-shirts,” she said with a laugh. “You should not be able to miss us.”

Mrs Lubinsky is again asking residents to put their donations into plastic shopping bags.

“It helps everyone,” she said. “It gets a few plastic bags out of your house, it makes it easy for us to grab the donations while we’re walking, and then it makes it easy for the folks at FAITH to put repackage items together to send home with their clients.”

Donations of dry goods, nonperishable food items, cereal, pasta, sauce, complete pancake mix, and other necessities continue to be welcomed during the summer months and into the autumn. Fresh fruit and vegetables are always welcomed. A substantial supply of canned soup and canned vegetables was on hand as of mid-July, so volunteers were not seeking those items.

FAITH Food Pantry is open to accept donations on Tuesdays from 9 am to noon, and Thursdays between 6:30 to 8 pm. The pantry is located in the basement of St John’s Episcopal Church, but it is a nonecumenical, nonprofit organization.

Volunteers ask that anything being donated is checked before it is dropped off to make sure it has not already expired. Out-of-date items have to be thrown out. Sorting through expired items also takes valuable volunteer time.

Cash donations are also welcomed, as are Big Y coins. Botsford Post Office has a collection box for Big Y coins.

For more information contact Lee Paulsen at 203-426-5604.