Volunteers in Newtown hand-writing thank you notes

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Residents of Newtown, Conn., are working to archive and respond to cards letters of condolence received following December's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school.

Town officials estimate they received well over 175,000 pieces of mail. A resident, Yolie Moreno, and a small group of volunteers have been photographing all the correspondence for a database she hopes eventually will be put online.

Another group of volunteers has begun answering some of that mail with handwritten thank-you notes. The members of the Newtown Volunteer Task force created their own cards and are using their own stamps.

Organizer Robin Fitzgerald says going through the outpouring of love has been another way for town residents to heal in the wake of the massacre of 20 students and six educators at the school.