Through each drill and peg being placed on "Catherine’s Learning Barn," the memory of six-year-old Catherine Violet Hubbard will live on forever.
“What a special way to mark a really solemn and sacred time, but also celebrate all that has come because of it,” Catherine’s mom and Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary President Jenny Hubbard said.
Hubbard lost her only daughter, Catherine, on Dec. 14, 2012, during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Since then, Hubbard has made it her life’s work to honor her sweet girl, who had a deep love for animals.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
On Tuesday morning, a "Barn Raising" was held for Catherine’s Learning Barn located at the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary in Newtown. The educational facility will serve as a multi-purpose space for school field trips, workshops focused on animal care and protection, farm-to-table cooking classes and much more.
“It’s a building but what I think is special about it is that within that building so many creatures are going to be cared for, and people are going to learn how to go home and care for animals that are in their backyards or homes,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard hopes that each person that comes through the learning space will become kinder and gentler towards animals. She said Catherine would have been delighted to see the project come to fruition.
If Catherine were alive today, she would have been 18 years old. Hubbard said symbolically, she sees the growth of the Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation similar to what could have been the development of Catherine.
“The fact that we have a permanent facility, it just feels very grown up. I feel like Catherine would have been flying, like she would have been off to college and spreading her wings and getting her independence and I feel like this barn in a lot of ways is us getting our independence and spreading our wings,” Hubbard said.
Catherine’s Learning Barn will open in the spring of 2025. The foundation is fundraising $1.3 million to finish the project. You can donate here.
