Newtown's children were showered with gifts Saturday _ tens of thousands of teddy bears, Barbie dolls, soccer balls and board games _ but only a portion of the tokens of support from around the world for the city in mourning. 
 
 Alissa Parker, left, and her husband, Robbie Parker, center, carry their daughters, Samantha, 3, and Madeline, 4, following funeral services for their 6-year old daughter, Connecticut elementary shooting... (Associated Press) 
 
 Alissa Parker carries her daughter, Samantha, 3, following funeral services for her 6-year old daughter, Connecticut elementary shooting victim Emilie Parker, Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012, at the Church of... (Associated Press) 
 
 The casket of 6-year-old Emilie Parker is carried following funeral services on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012, in Ogden, Utah. Emilie, whose family has Ogden roots, was one of the victims killed in a Dec. 14... (Associated Press) 
 
 Robbie Parker, left, carries his daughter, Madeline, 4, following funeral services for his 6-year old daughter, Connecticut elementary shooting victim Emilie Parker, Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012, at The Church... (Associated Press) 
 
 Volunteer Anthony Vessicchio of East Haven, Conn., helps to sort tables full of donated toys at the town hall in Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (Associated Press) 
 
 Photos showing those killed in the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School are imprinted on fake roses at a memorial in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth... (Associated Press) 
 
 A package, bottom, addressed to "a survivor who needs a hug" of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting sits in a bin as Dee Amin sorts through packages at the post office in Newtown, Conn., Friday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 A sign against weapons is displayed at a memorial to the Newtown shooting victims in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012. The funerals for the victims of the school shooting... (Associated Press) 
 
 A message of support hangs over a table full of donated toys at the town hall in Newtown, Conn., Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (Associated Press) 
 
 Just a little over a week ago, 20 children and six school employees were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, attacked the school, then killed himself. Police don't know what set off the massacre. 
 
 Days before Christmas, funerals were still being held Saturday, the last of those whose schedules were made public, the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association said. A service was held in Utah for 6-year-old Emilie Parker. Others were scheduled in Connecticut for Josephine Gay, 7, and Ana Marquez-Greene, 6. 
 
 All of Newtown's children were invited to Edmond Town Hall, where they could choose a toy. Bobbi Veach, who was fielding donations at the building, reflected on the outpouring of gifts from toy stores, organizations and individuals around the world. 
 
 "It's their way if grieving," Veach said. "They say, `I feel so bad, I just want to do something to reach out.' That's why we accommodate everybody we can." 
 
 The United Way of Western Connecticut said the official fund for donations had $2.6 million in it Saturday morning. Others sent envelopes stuffed with cash to pay for coffee at the general store, and a shipment of cupcakes arrived from a gourmet bakery in Beverly Hills, Calif. 
 
 The Postal Service reported a six-fold increase in mail in town and set up a unique post office box to handle it. The parcels come decorated with rainbows and hearts drawn by school children. 
 
 Some letters arrived in packs of 26 identical envelopes _ one for each family of the children and staff killed or addressed to the "First Responders" or just "The People of Newtown." One card arrived from Georgia addressed to "The families of 6 amazing women and 20 beloved angels." Many contained checks. 
 
 "This is just the proof of the love that's in this country," said Postmaster Cathy Zieff. 
 
 Peter Leone said he was busy making deli sandwiches and working the register at his Newtown General Store when he got a phone call from Alaska. It was a woman who wanted to give him her credit card number. 
 
 "She said, `I'm paying for the next $500 of food that goes out your door,'" Leone said. "About a half hour later another gentleman called, I think from the West Coast, and he did the same thing for $2,000." 
 
 At the town hall building, the basement resembled a toy store, with piles of stuffed penguins, dolls, games, and other fun gifts. All the toys were inspected and examined by bomb-sniffing dogs before being sorted and put on card tables. The children could choose whatever they wanted. 
 
 "But we're not checking IDs at the door," said Tom Mahoney, the building administrator, who's in charge of handling gifts. "If there is a child from another town who comes in need of a toy, we're not going to turn them away." 
 
 Many people have placed flowers, candles and stuffed animals at makeshift memorials that have popped up all over town. Others are stopping by the Edmond Town Hall to drop off food, or toys, or cash. About 60,000 teddy bears were donated, said Ann Benoure, a social services caseworker who was working at the town hall. 
 
 "There's so much stuff coming in," Mahoney said. "To be honest, it's a bit overwhelming; you just want to close the doors and turn the phone off." 
 
 Mahoney said the town of some 27,000 with a median household income of more than $111,000 plans to donate whatever is left over to shelters or other charities. 
 
 Sean Gillespie of Colchester, who attended Sandy Hook Elementary, and Lauren Minor, who works at U.S. Foodservice in Norwich, came from Calvary Chapel in Uncasville with a car filled with food donated by U.S. Foodservice. But they were sent elsewhere because the refrigerators in Newtown were overflowing with donations. 
 
 "We'll find someplace," Gillespie said. "It won't go to waste." 
 
 In addition to the town's official fund, other private funds have been set up. Former Sandy Hook student Ryan Kraft, who once babysat Lanza, set up a fund with other alumni that has collected almost $150,000. It is earmarked for the Sandy Hook PTA. 
 
 Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel is raising money for a memorial to the victims. He said one man wrote a check for $52,000 for that project. 
 
 Several colleges, including the University of Connecticut, have set up scholarship funds to pay for the educations of students at Sandy Hook and the relatives of the victims. 
 
 Town officials have not decided yet what to do with all the money. A board of Newtown community leaders is being established to determine how it is most needed and will be best utilized, said Isabel Almeida with the local United Way, which has waived all its administrative fees related to the fund. 
 
 She said some have wondered about building a new school for Sandy Hook students if the town decides to tear the school down, but that decision has not been made. 
 
 And while the town is grateful for all the support, Almeida said, it has no more room for those gifts. Instead, she encouraged people to donate to others in memory of the Sandy Hook victims. 
 
 "Send those teddy bears to a school in your community or an organization that serves low income children, who are in need this holiday season, and do it in memory of our children," she said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Jesse Washington, Allen Breed, Chris Sullivan, Eileen Connelly, Susan Haigh and John Christoffersen contributed to this report. ||||| In classrooms, churches, and other places, bells rang out across the country while people observed a moment of silence for the victims of the Newtown, Conn. shooting. NBC's Ron Mott reports. 
 
 Updated at 3:40 p.m. ET: The last of the funerals for the 26 victims of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., were held Saturday, ending a week-long procession of funerals as the final three young victims are laid to rest. 
 
 On Friday morning, exactly one week after a gunman burst into Sandy Hook Elementary and killed 20 first-graders and six educators, the nation paused for a moment of silence and tolled bells 26 times for the victims. 
 
 Josephine Gay's funeral mass was held at Saint Rose of Lima Saturday morning. The first grader had just turned 7 the week of the shooting. On Monday, purple balloons — Josephine’s favorite color — sprouted from the family mailbox and those of all her neighbors. 
 
 "'Joey' is a beautiful little girl, may she never be forgotten and live forever in our hearts," wrote Polly Larsen, a family friend, on Facebook. 
 
 Six-year-old Ana Marquez-Greene had just moved to Newtown two months ago, in part, because of Sandy Hooks’s pristine reputation, her grandmother, Elba Marquez said. Ana's funeral was held Saturday morning at First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Conn. 
 
 Ana’s father, Jimmy Greene, wrote on Facebook, "As much as she's needed here and missed by her mother, brother and me, Ana beat us all to paradise." 
 
 Emilie Parker, 6, loved to make people smile and never missed a chance to draw a picture or make a card. Her father, Robbie Parker, said she loved to try new things, except for food. 
 
 Related: Profiles of the victims 
 
 In a press conference, Parker said he held no animosity for the gunman, even as he struggled to explain the death to his other two children, ages 3 and 4. He was sustained, he said, by the fact that the world is better for having had Emilie in it. 
 
 
 
 "I'm so blessed to be her dad," Parker said. 
 
 Emilie was laid to rest Saturday in Ogden, Utah, where her family lived before moving to Newtown. On Friday night her family held a memorial service in Ogden and released 26 lanterns. Emilie's dad released the final lantern, a pink one, his daughter's favorite color. 
 
 Back to school: Jan. 3 
 
 As the funerals and wakes for those killed come to an end, Chalk Hill Middle School in neighboring Monroe is being refurbished into an elementary school, ready to open on Jan. 3. 
 
 The first grade will be consolidated into one class, according to The Associated Press. The rooms are being repainted, the technology being upgraded and the floor being raised in the bathrooms so that the little ones can properly sit on the toilets. 
 
 Chalk Hill teachers have volunteered to decorate and paint the classrooms, and the school district is offering the middle school, which has been empty for two years, free of charge. 
 
 "We're going to have a lot of support for them," Newtown Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson said of the approximately 30 teachers and staff members from Sandy Hook. "Certainly, if they need more time, they can have more time. But I think many don't want their children -- they own those children -- they don't want them to be with a substitute. So I think most of them are going to try to come back." 
 
 Robinson described to the AP how the morning of the shooting unfolded for her. 
 
 She arrived at the Sandy Hook firehouse where families of students had gathered, but she didn’t know how many children had been killed. 
 
 Then the police chief took her aside, she recalled: “He said, ‘Janet, this is much worse than you're probably thinking.’” 
 
 The Associated Press contributed reporting.
– The last three funerals for victims of the Sandy Hook massacre were held today as millions of dollars in donations poured into Newtown, Conn., NBC News reports. Josephine Gay, 7, and Ana Marquez-Greene, 6, were laid to rest in Connecticut, and Emilie Parker, 6, in Ogden, Utah. Emilie's father, Robbie Parker, said at a press conference that he held no ill will toward shooter Adam Lanza but found it hard to explain the killing to his other kids, ages 3 and 4. Emilie's effect on the world was his only comfort, he said: "I'm so blessed to be her dad." Meanwhile officials were refurbishing unused Chalk Hill Middle School in nearby Monroe, Conn., to be ready Jan. 3 for children who survived the massacre. Newtown's school superintendent offered time off for Sandy Hook's teachers and staff, but said that "I think many don't want their children—they own those children—they don't want them to be with a substitute." Also today, Newtown's children were invited to a town hall to choose a toy from the tens of thousands pouring in, reports the AP. Donations at the United Way of Western Connecticut reached $2.6 million this morning.