Rev. Daniel Cho had just been hired as the new minister at Rosedale Presbyterian Church last May but had yet to start his new job, when he learned a child’s remains had been found in a construction dumpster not far from the church.
“And I thought, ‘Oh boy, what’s going to happen? Is there going to be some event held for her?'” said Cho.
Two months later, when he assumed his new post, Cho spoke to church leaders and learned that nothing had been arranged.
“We felt it was very important that we affirm her dignity. We bring some dignity to her life that she didn’t have in her death and that’s just been the strongest compulsion and motivation for us,” Cho explained.
Now, in conjunction with the one-year anniversary of the discovery which passed on May 2nd, the church will be a holding a memorial service for the child on Saturday.
Cho says that the celebration will include music, scripture readings, the Branksome Hall school choir which will be singing, and a visit from a Toronto police officer.
“Our ultimate hope is this will raise some awareness so that yes, absolutely, this case will be solved eventually,” Cho said. “If this case can add a little bit to that end, then that’s an answer to prayer.”
Sandra Demson, who’s been a member of the church for decades, is one of many community members who’s been knitting scarves for members of the choir to wear on Saturday.
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“There’s been a lot of artistic activity, and the reason for that is we wanted this service to be beautiful,” Demson said.
Yarn was donated for the scarves and volunteers spent hours knitting two different kinds of scarves, one multi-coloured, the other white and speckled.
“Those reflect the two blankets that were wrapped around the child. And because they’re beautiful colours, we think it’s a sigh that child was loved.”
Toronto Police Homicide Insp. Hank Idsinga told Global News in a sit-down interview last December that investigators are turning to geneaology in an effort to identify the child.
They have yet to determine a cause of death, and are still working in conjunction with 53 Division. “We’re not at the point where we can establish that it’s a murder so it’s been a joint effort with divisional investigators and right now, it’s on the geneaology pathway,” Idsinga explained in December.
The memorial service will be held at Rosedale Presbyterian Church on Saturday May 6 at 2 pm.
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