Special stars will shine beginning on December 10, thanks to Arizona teacher Faith Leonard.

Remembering December 14, 2012, Ms Leonard said, "When the shooting happened, and I came home that day, my heart was so broken for families [in Newtown]."

With the help of other teachers and community members, "We organized supplies and money and we jumped in the car and drove to Connecticut.

"I didn't really know how I could help, but I wanted everybody in the community to know that we supported and cared about them. I wanted to be useful," she said. A vigil was in progress when Ms Leonard arrived in Newtown. She soon met residents Jennifer Bayles Conley and Audrey Locorotondo, who were passing out stuffed animals and hot chocolate.

In an e-mail that Ms Locorotondo and Ms Conley sent to The Newtown Bee, they explained that Ms Leonard in 2012 "visited all the locations that were providing activates for our children. She volunteered and helped the adults and children to try to forget what had just happened even if it was for just a few minutes."

The three women have stayed in touch, and last year, Ms Leonard sent 26 hand-painted wooden stars to Newtown. Made from raw wood, the stars needed to be treated to handle the weather; it was decided to wait to hang them until the 2017 date marking the tragedy at SHS. Ms Conley and Ms Locorotondo will place them out in the town parks on Sunday, December 10, as a remembrance of 12/14. Residents who find a star can keep it, leave it for others to find, or pass it to someone else, they said.

Ms Leonard purchased the stars through starsofhopeusa.org. The website explains: Stars of Hope is a unique disaster relief and community arts program started in 2007.

"We empower people to transform communities impacted by natural and human-caused disasters by creating colorful art and messages of hope and healing on one-foot wooden stars that are displayed in public for months and even years after historic tragedies. The stars serve as beacons of compassion for all to see and have made a direct impact on the long-term mental health and resiliency of individuals and entire communities recovering from disaster."

Ms Locorotondo said, "Faith felt compelled to drive to Connecticut and help the community. She helped all around. We met her at sledding event at Treadwell, became fast friends, and she was at our house for Christmas dinner."

On this five-year anniversary she and Ms Conley will put out the stars at Treadwell Park, Dickinson Park, and Fairfield Hills.

"It's about the spirit of remembering," she said.

The gift of stars "shows that it has not stopped that the people who came out here are still thinking about this," Ms Conley said. Ms Leonard, she said, wants "to teach [her 3½-year-old son] Grant about giving back," and this was in hopes that her son and others would understand paying it forward, and what gestures of gratitude can do.

"No matter how big or small, it's the fact that you're doing it," Ms Conley said. Faith "is one of the most amazing, caring, sweet people that I have ever met and I'm grateful to have spent time with her and have stayed in touch … and the fact that she still thinks about us is so amazing to me," she said.

Since 2012, Ms Leonard said, "I think about the people that I met [in Connecticut] every anniversary, and I can't be there every year, but I know it's got to be bittersweet every holiday... These are Stars of Hope for any time there is a disaster or horrible situation, this is a way to reach out from far away sand say we are thinking of you."

Now that she has her own little boy, she found the tragedy hard to explain last year as he and other children painted the stars. "And last year as Christmas came, it was hard to talk to Grant about, but I said there were some angels looking out over this very special town and we were going to make stars for the angels, and so we decorated 26 stars."

Ms Leonard added, "We made the stars special for Newtown. We're in Arizona, but have not stopped thinking about your community."

During her brief stay in town in 2012, Ms Leonard said, "I felt humbled and was amazed at the kindness shown amidst tragedy. It spoke to me about strength of a community and amazing kindness." She added, "Being a teacher, it really impacted me, so the stars are something we hope to continue doing."

They "would like to encourage people who happen upon [the stars] to take them and hang them in their home, school office, and/or pass them on to someone who may need some uplifting."