NEW YORK, July 8 (UPI) -- The New York Yankees honored residents of Newtown, Conn., during Sunday's game at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees gave the city of Newtown 4,000 free tickets to Sunday's game, at which the colors were presented by the Newtown police and Sandy Hook fire departments, the national anthem sung by Newtown Youth Voices choir, and the names of the 26 victims of the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School were scrolled on the scoreboard in center field, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported.
"The families and the people in that town have been through so much," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "As we get away from the time of the event, there are still a lot of struggles. We do whatever we can to give them hope, be there for them. It's something that has scarred their lives forever and we can't forget that, we need to reach out."
Newtown officials expressed gratitude, but also said they're ready to move on.
"The town is regaining some of its confidence," said Patricia Llodra, Newtown's first selectman. "We're more future-oriented. We've had many months of wonderful activities brought to us by sports teams and other organizations, but we need to find that time, maybe the middle of August, when it's important for us to slow down and have some alone time, refocus. These events have been wonderful, fun, distracting, but we need some alone time."
