Residents of Newtown, Connecticut, have issued an appeal for privacy from visitors and the media ahead of this week’s one-year anniversary of the mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary School. JoAnn Bacon, whose daughter was among 20 children killed in the massacre, asked that well-wishers focus on their own communities.

JoAnn Bacon: “On the one-year mark of this horrific day, we know that many people across the country will be thinking of our children and educators so tragically taken from us and wondering how to help. We ask that you consider performing an act of kindness or volunteering with a charitable organization in your own local community. We hope that some small measure of good may be returned to the world.”