Deborah Rivlin of The Children's Room in Arlington provides helpful information for parents of young children and teens on Radio Boston.

To help honor the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in Connecticut, Lisa Hersey has asked the public to donate white Christmas lights and outdoor extension cords as well as teddy bears, in a separate appeal.

Season’s Four of Lexington has donated 26 Christmas trees for a memorial to be set up on the lawn of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at 56 Pond Lane.

The goal of a group is to light each tree with white lights in honor of the innocent victims in the Dec. 14 shootings. A tree-lighting ceremony ws held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 20.

Hersey asked the public to come and celebrate the lives of the victims. The trees are to remain lit until Jan. 20.

If you would like to donate any lights or extension cords by Tuesday, drop them off in the members' lounge of the Elks between 3 and 11 p.m. daily. The door is in rear of building at bottom of stairs.

Those involved will also accept cash donations until Saturday, Jan. 19. All donations will be sent to Sandy Hook Elementary.

Send donations Debra MacDonald, P.O. Box 750016, Arlington, Mass. 02475.

Volunteers are needed for setting up and decorating trees. Contact Debbie at 781-492-8363.

Newtown Savings Bank: Another way to help

AHS students ask you to help: Teddy bears sought by Thursday

A group at Arlington High School wants to help those affected by the massacre Dec. 14 of elementary-school students and staff in Newtown, Conn.

Mary Villano, interim principal at AHS, wrote in an email to staff, parents and guardians Tuesday, Dec. 18:

"I received an e-mail from one of our students this morning that made my day! She has taken the initiative to organize a Teddy Bear Drive to directly benefit the children in the Newtown School in Connecticut. This is a concrete and "easy to do" response that we can all participate in as a school community. I fully support this project and invite every one of you to donate a teddy bear." The student's email:

"My name is Beverly Lipsey. I am a junior and president of the DoSomething Club. In response to the recent tragedy in CT, we are participating in a Teddy Bear drive.

"The founder of the organization that is hosting it, Phoenix999.org, is a survivor of the Columbine Massacre and created his organization to provide financial and educational resources to victims of and victims’ families affected by mass tragedy and violence.

"Aside from just encouraging donations, the teddy bear drive is unique in that the children will receive the bears directly.

"I am asking the high school, family, and friends to purchase bears, but I was also wondering if you would like to contribute and if there was a way to notify the school?

"I would need to have all the bears by Thursday. They have a goal of 1,500 bears, and I would love if we could not only help out but put them over their goal, sending as many as we can collect in time. I also think it would be a great way to show our support as a school."

AHS student leads push, helps raise more than $300

Later on Dec. 18, Villano wrote: "I wanted to share one more student led response to the Newtown tragedy. I am impressed with how quickly and passionately our students have found ways to make something good come from a terrible tragedy. I hope we can support this student as well. Ellen has already collected over $300 in the caf at lunch time."

To contribute, send cash or a check payable to the "AHS General Fund" with Newtown in the memo line. The school will issue a check to the Newtown Youth and Family Services as described below.  

My name is Ellen Contini and I'm a senior at AHS.
The news of what happened in Newtown has really struck me and really made me want to take action. I have created a group named The Hope Project.

Our goal is to show the families and community of Newtown that there is still good in the world. We want them to see that there's still hope. We have several ideas to help raise money and all proceeds will be sent directly to the Newtown Youth and Family Services.

I was wondering if it would be OK if we could collect money this week at lunch.

Also if an announcement could possibly be made informing the school about The Hope Project and that we will be collecting money at lunch.

Additionaly we plan do do other things besides raising money with the goal of giving comfort and hope. We encourage everyone to make one or even several uplifting, funny, creative, artistic, etc. cards that we will then collect and send to Newtown.

Students can even have family help, especially younger siblings. (They don't need to be told what happened but just that they are making cards for 'sad friends' or something along those lines.)

For those who want to join we will be making cards after school in the cafe Wednesday and Thursday.

Arts and craft supplies would be fantastic too. My hope is that the Arlington community can work together to give love, support, and smiles to the Newtown community.

This story was published Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, and updated two days later.