Leaside community rallies to remember, celebrate 7 year old killed by careless driver
It was just over two years ago that 7-year-old Georgia Walsh was killed in Leaside — hit by a driver who was attempting to make a right turn at a red light.
On Saturday her family held the second annual Georgia Walsh memorial baseball game: a charity event combining Georgia's favourite sport and raising awareness for safer community streets.
"It's both overwhelming and touching," Georgia's mother, Jillian Walsh, told CBC News. "Accidents like my daughter's, you can't really make sense of — they don't make sense — so trying to give it some meaning without focusing on the loss is what we're trying to do."
The volunteer-run event included a bouncy castle, face painting and a host of other activities, and was centred around an all-star baseball game featuring young players from around the GTA. But winning was not the most important thing for many kids on the field.
A big legacy
Marcus Visser, who played for Leaside, said that the game was important as a fundraiser, "because we're trying to save money to get a playground." With additional fundraising efforts, the community hopes to build that playground at Trace Manes Park.
But it will be far from the only mark Georgia leaves on her community.
Just steps from where the kids were playing is the intersection where Georgia was killed. Since then, people in the neighbourhood have posted signs on their front lawns to promote slower driving, an initiative which has spread to other parts of the city, such as in Roncesvalles.
The speed limit on some streets has also been lowered from 40 to 30 kilometres per hour — a big relief for some parents.
Farid Mekhael is one of them. "Obviously with kids running around ... when the speed limit is lower ... everyone feels a little safer," he told CBC News.
Rande Mekhael says she thinks the signs have been even more important than the speed limit reductions because they represent the connection people in the community feel with the Walsh family. Speed limits, she said, aren't an abstract rule but a personal reminder of the consequences of unsafe driving.
"We can't bring Georgia back," Jillian Walsh said, "But if we can help save a life, whether it's through lowering the speed limit, whether it's through the Kids at Play signs, whether it's through no rights on a red — however we can do that, it will ensure that her loss wasn't in vain."
