Students at Greenfield School K-8 stood on the athletic field as the school dedicated an adjacent garden to the families of the victims and Zone 4 officers who were on the scene of the Tree of Life shooting last October.
Some families of the victims were in attendance, as well as officers. Students gave lanterns to the families and officers, and sang "Be a Candle of Light." Pat Gallagher is an educator at Greenfield and helped put the program together. He said talking to elementary school-aged children about the shooting can be difficult.
"Some kids have a little bit of a hard time," he said. "But we all work together and sit down and talk as a group [about it]."
This was the second ceremony for the Tree of Life families. Last year the school dedicated benches to the families and officers, which sit in front of the garden. Gallagher said since the shooting, it has made him more cautious about guests coming to the school.
"I see a stranger come up I'm always walking over to confront them first and see who they are," Gallagher said. "It used to be 'hey how ya doing, come on over,' now it's 'who are you here with, what are you here for?'"
The garden is not open to the public, Gallagher said, meant for the school and families.
