After the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, many teachers and staff members of Thoroughgood Elementary wondered how and what we could do to help the families affected.

Dr. Cheryl Zigrang, principal of Thoroughgood Elementary, reached out to her own students’ families for help on how they could make a difference.

One Thoroughgood parent recalled an interview with Sandy Hook parents who lost their daughter in the tragedy. In the interview, they talked about how much their daughter loved art, and how much they would miss her artwork.

That sparked an idea.

The students at Thoroughgood Elementary could help brighten the hearts of those touched by this tragedy by creating a book – made up of all original artwork – with proceeds going to the Sandy Hook Support Fund.

It was decided the book would be based on kindness. Zigrang and school staff did not focus on the tragedy as many of the students had been sheltered from many of the details surrounding the shooting. Instead, they wanted to focus on the positive messages of friendship and happiness.

In the end, all of the school’s 32 classes, kindergarten through fifth-grade, produced their own two-page spread in the book. They were asked for both art and text that illustrated their class’s idea of kindness, and had artwork returned that ranged from photographs to hand-sewn quilts as well as text from famous song lyrics and quotes to original poetry.

To help make the book come to life, Lifetouch published the book at a reduced cost in honor of the cause. In addition, four staff members at Thoroughgood have family members who work at Dominion Power. Thanks to their efforts, Dominion provided the necessary equipment to take an aerial picture of all the students who participated in the effort.

So far, the school has sold 430 books, at $15 a piece, with only 40 more left in the inventory. For more information about the project, contact Jennifer Arrigo at Jennifer.Arrigo@vbschools.com.