Community Corner
Ana's Purple Playground: A Place for Laughter and Love
A playground is dedicated in honor of Ana Grace Marquez-Greene, on what would have been the late Sandy Hook School student's 8th birthday.
While purple balloons had been placed at various spots around Newtown, the celebration took place some 50 miles north at Elizabeth Park in Hartford, Conn.
But the girl who would have celebrated her 8th birthday on Friday, Ana Grace Marquez-Greene, was only there in spirit. Ana was one of 20 children killed at Sandy Hook School on Dec. 14, 2012.
The celebration was to mark the opening of a playground named in her honor — at the very spot she played as a child. And the playground, just like the balloons, had to be purple — Ana's favorite color.
Even in its first few moments of existence, the playground had already become a place filled with laughter as children enthusiastically explored its many creative, Ana-inspired elements.
"It's just a way she lives on, and as a parent who's lost a child so young, you do want your children to live on. And this is a way for us to do that," Ana's mom Nelba Marquez-Greene told NBC CT.
The playground is one of 26 being built throughout the tri-state area to honor the victims of the tragic shooting, as part of a project called The Sandy Ground: Where Angels Play.
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