Grayslake Lights the Night to Show Support for Shooting Victims

A grass roots effort to show support for families dealing with the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. led residents from Grayslake and surrounding areas to "Light the Night" with candles on their front porches Monday, Dec. 17.

"I'm a teacher, so I can't even watch the news coverage of the shooting for five minutes without breaking down," said Donna Lovitsch, of Grayslake. "I teach special needs kids at Lake Forest High School so the incident kind of hits home for me."

She said she wanted to have the candle lit on her front porch to pay tribute to those affected by the unspeakable tragedy that took the lives of 26 victims, including 20 young children.

"As a teacher, you know your school has taken all of these safety precautions, but sometimes it still isn't enough," Lovitsch said as her candle burned on her front porch. "So if there is something small we can do, even living this far away from the tragedy, I wanted to do it to let the families know that our thoughts and prayers are with them."

The idea for "Light the Night" came from Grayslake resident Jennifer Heavrin, who posted the idea on the the Grayslake Patch Facebook page. It has since received more than 109 "Likes" and 85 shares.

Heavrin's original post encouraged people to participate in the Grayslake Community Chain of having candles on front porches Dec. 17.

Joyce Campbell of Grayslake said she and her family participated in the candle chain. "We wanted to show support for all of the families who are mourning, instead of celebrating during the holidays," she said. 

"We're all one big family and when one bleeds, we all bleed," Campbell said. "Putting a candle out is such a small thing but it connects us all."

Patch is also using Twitter to get the word out: #GrayslakeForNewtown.

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