Special Report: Next for Newtown

NEWTOWN, Conn. (WTNH) -- If a town is to have an identity, a mark about its makeup, its people, its feel, then how are we to categorize Newtown, Connecticut? Will we ever see beyond the memorials, manage to mute the pain? Or could Newtown become a beacon, the epicenter for a transformation?

"I think this is a flashpoint, I really do. This is a point in time," said Lee Shull.

Lee Shull is co-founder of "Sandy Hook Promise," a grass-roots group designed with a two-pronged approach to help for those changed forever and just change, change in our approach to mental health to violence and to being a community.

For volunteers, finding momentum begins with a pledge, a promise on their website.

"We want Newtown to be a model for this, but we need people across the nation to get engaged. But truly our community was and is just as vulnerable as everybody else's," said Shull.

Slain children despoils the heart, numbs parents and ignites grief in all of us.

"Jesse was my buddy," said Neil Heslin, Jesse's father. "He was pretty much the only family I have left."

And yet, it also sparks people to act, to help, to send money.

"If it doesn't happen after this, when will it happen," said Shull.

If you "Google" Sandy Hook donations, you'll quickly learn a number of funds have been setup. The advice is, do your homework, know where your money is going, and for what purpose, and realize, money is just not needed now here for the people of Newtown, there's going to be a need, a growing need, for years to come.

"We've had children sending pennies in little ziplock bags with toys, and corporations send in over 100-thousand dollars. Everybody wants to help," said Kim Morgan.

Morgan is Chief Executive Office of the United Way of Western Connecticut. "The Sandy Hook School Support Fund" has raised over 9 million dollars. A foundation is quickly forming to determine how those funds will be distributed to families, first responders, a despondent Newtown. Rebuilding hope takes dollars, takes time.

"We're getting calls everyday from families, families that has children in school, in all different levels.  They financially may have been on the edge to begin with, this is the tipping point, we want to make sure they get the help they need so it doesn't spiral into something worse," said Morgan.

We have heard there is strength in numbers. Newtown understands it is not alone, that neighbors don't disappear at the town line. The true story of what Newtown is, it's identity, is yet to be told but perhaps, with the help of a nation, change starts with a "promise."

"We realize this is not a sprint, it's a marathon. That's what we're gearing up for," said Morgan.

To donate to the Sandy Hook Promise, visit www.sandyhookpromise.org .

For the United Way of Western Conn. foundation, visit www.uwwesternct.org/sandyhook .