Each Sandy Hook Victim's Family Will Get $281K

Committee oversees distribution of $7.7M
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 12, 2013 6:27 AM CDT
Updated Jul 12, 2013 7:28 AM CDT
Each Sandy Hook Victim's Family Will Get $281K
Krista Rekos, center, mother of Sandy Hook School shooting victim Jessica Rekos, reacts during a public forum on the distribution of Newtown donations.   (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

The committee in charge of distributing Sandy Hook donations has a distribution plan: Each victim's family would get $281,000, totaling 95% of the $7.7 million that will be given out. On top of that, families of kids who survived the classroom attacks would receive $20,000 each, and the two wounded teachers would split $150,000, the Hartford Courant reports. The plan should be settled by Monday, says a lawyer involved. The decisions follow a private meeting with families run by a former federal judge, then a public hearing last night on the matter.

Some at the hearing wondered why just $7.7 million was being distributed, when the biggest fund contains $11.4 million. "The intent was to give the money to the victims. We're starting from a false premise and this process is re-victimizing the victims," said one attendee and activist, per the AP. Former judge Alan Nevas said the committee "had no voice in how that amount was reached." The rest of the money, controlled by the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation Inc., will be a "community fund," the Courant notes; future mental health care could be one use, the AP notes. (More Sandy Hook Elementary School stories.)

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