Shrewsbury students sing for Sandy Hook.

SHREWSBURY, Massachusetts – A number of local boys and a girl are featured in a YouTube video raising money for a memorial to the Sandy Hook Elementary School children killed in the December 14 rampage. Matt and Sam Thomann, Dante and Gianni Colonero, and Syra Pandey, all of Shrewsbury, sang in the video “26 Angels.” The children, along with fifteen others and six adult musicians, represented the twenty-six people killed at the school by a Newtown, Connecticut, gunman. Each child was given a Sandy Hook first grader to research and portray on a sign he or she decorated then held aloft during the song. The video was directed by Boston filmmaker Ben Proulx, and the song “26 Angels” was written and performed by Berklee College of Music alum (2011) Justin Cohen. Audio was recorded in New Hampshire, and the video was filmed at Andover (MA) High School. The production team has connected with the Richard Paul Evans organization to erect a commemorative angel statue on the site, according to the 26 Angels Facebook page. The “Christmas Box Statue” is part of a worldwide network of memorial angel statues installed for the purpose of giving parents a place to go to mourn their lost children. Monies raised through donations could also be used to purchase benches, build a garden, or install a pond or fountain, for example.