On February 15, Ray and Jeff Fuller of Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company gathered at the firehouse's flagpole, set at half-staff, to honor the victims killed in the mass shooting one day earlier at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

The father and son had received a bouquet of yellow and red roses, donated to the fire company by Caraluzzi's Newtown Market, and tied them to the flagpole that stands in the fire company's memorial garden at 34 Hawleyville Road.

Ray, a 2016 Hawleyville Firefighter of the Year Award recipient, was personally impacted by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and grieved the loss of more students and faculty killed in a school.

In securing the flowers to the flagpole last week, he said that he wanted to express our community's condolences to those affected by the recent shooting and let the people impacted know that "People do care, and we want to make them feel better."