LAKE HALLIE (WQOW) – About a dozen volunteers from Green Oasis, a landscaping company out of Chippewa Falls, came out on Saturday morning to help expand a memorial for three girl scouts and a parent, tragically killed while volunteering on County Highway P in 2018.
“I actually met with the grandparents of one of the girls, they came into our garden center probably about a few months ago,” said Kirsten Sendelbach, a landscape designer at Green Oasis. “And they just kind of wanted to talk to somebody about getting landscaping done around the memorial.”
The new landscaping includes a brick deck, a few benches, and a walkway to a 19 feet high memorial cross that was put up in 2022.
“They just wanted something simple right away, but I just knew that with the event that occurred, and how tragic that it was, especially for the community and the impact it had there, that we could just do something a little bit bigger than what they initially were looking for,” Sendelbach said.
According to officials at Green Oasis, a project of this size would usually cost a customer over $3,000, but the company donated everything.
“When this opportunity presented itself, and we were approached by the families, it was pretty much a no-brainer for us,” said Nathan Bollinger, the project manager from Green Oasis. “Even just location-wise, this is right in our backyard.”
Even though the tragic hit-and-run was nearly five years ago, the incident is still impacting the community.
“In 2018, I didn’t have kids, since I’ve had my own kids, it just hits a little different when you have your own kids and you hear about something like this happening to children especially,” Bollinger said.
If you would like to see the memorial, it is on County Highway P, just north of Western Wisconsin Auto Auction.
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