Nicer In Newtown

Newtown Middle School seventh graders Jennifer Smith and Kathleen Whitaker wanted to do something special to earn money for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The girls recently offered wagon rides to the neighborhood children for 25 cents each, collecting several dollars.

Then they put their heads together to try and come up with more ideas on how to earn money to donate. They spent Sunday morning making brownies, cookies, and lemonade and setting up a stand at the end of Misty Vale Road. They also went through their homes collecting spare change from their parents and looking for items to sell. They generously gave up some treasured Beanie Babies to give out at the lemonade stand.

Jennifer and Kathleen made signs and posters and enlisted the help of Kathleen’s younger siblings, Paul, a first grader at Sandy Hook School, and Grace, a fifth grader at Reed Intermediate. Their neighbor Phoebe Doseher also stopped by to help.

The children had their lemonade stand set up Sunday afternoon and collected $125.38. “It really is nicer in Newtown,” commented Jennifer’s mother, Ginny Smith, as several people stopped by to donate as much as $20 without even purchasing lemonade. The kindness and generosity of the people in Newtown was very much appreciated by the children. They have donated the money to the American Red Cross.