It’s been just over a month since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. shocked the nation but the memory of the 26 dead, including 20 children, lives on in Foxborough.

The New England Patriots still wear the black-ribbon decals they donned prior to their Dec. 16^th game against the San Francisco 49ers for Newtown, Conn.

This past Sunday, the Kraft family invited 14 New England heroes from the Newtown, Conn. Police Department to attend the Patriots’ AFC Divisional Round game vs. the Houston Texans.

The 14 Newtown, Conn. police officers and first responders responded to one of the worst tragedies in American history as it was unfolding on Dec. 14, 2012.

The 14 heroes were introduced on the field prior to last Sunday’s game and were on the field for player introductions. The Patriots defeated the Texans, 41-28 to advance to Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium.

The Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy hit close to home for the Kraft family because they own a box company in Newtown with a factory less than two miles from the school.

“We’ve run a box factory down there, Rand-Whitney Newtown, since the mid-to-late 90s and you’ve heard the people in the media describe it this way but it’s really true that it’s just typical, nice suburban town USA,” said Patriots president Jonathan Kraft. “Quiet, beautiful, wooded, it’s not a place you’d expect to hear something like that happen.”

Kraft announced on Dec. 16, 2012 his family and the Kraft Group would be donating $25,000 to hose affected by the Newtown, Conn. shooting.

“Your heart just sinks and you get nauseous and you never would expect anything like that would ever happen [in Newtown] … it’s just horrible,” Kraft said. … “Our family [and] the Kraft Group donated some money and we encourage other people who are in a position to do that to do it.”