A memorial garden for Laura Szendrei is starting to take shape on the grounds of a North Delta high school.

The garden was designed by a group of girls who call themselves the Green Griffins - Kirsten Martin, Nicole Kokolski, Heather Schmit, Allison Shields and Stormy MacKay.

Working with only shovels, rakes and a wheelbarrow, the girls managed to eke out the beginnings of a garden to honour their schoolmate, who died on Sept. 26, 2010, one day after suffering a savage beating at the hands of a 17-year-old boy in Mackie Park.

On a recent weekend, their garden at Burnsview Secondary got a big boost from volunteers in the community.

Brian White, president of the Laura Szendrei Memorial Scholarship Foundation, organized the volunteers after visiting the school and seeing the daunting task that lay ahead for the girls. With the foundation's blessing, White also donated $5,000 for the garden.

More than 20 volunteers showed up at the high school on July 9 to help clear the sloping strip of land for the garden.

Splitting up into teams, they skimmed off the grass with an excavator, smoothed the surface for the topsoil to come, built a retaining wall and prepared sand beds for flagstones.

A few of the volunteers helped to feed the crew by fetching food and cold drinks and "putting on Band-Aids on blisters."

White's team is now aiming to set flagstones in place, and he's hoping an expert and some strong people will help.

"We're going to need some strong backs to move the flagstones, they're quite heavy," said White, a local realtor.

"Or anybody who has expertise in laying flagstones - we'd love to hear from them.... Hopefully we can do that work soon."

White said he's also looking for the volunteer services of a "gravity feed" irrigation expert.

Anyone wanting to help build the Laura Szendrei Memorial Garden can contact Brian White at 604-961-4104.

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