BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — Two volunteers traveled hundreds of miles to Barrow County bringing a handmade gift to help a community in mourning after a tragic school shooting.
On the Saturday after four people lost their lives inside Apalachee High, Greg Beste was supposed to be celebrating his granddaughter's second birthday.
Instead, he was in Winder mourning the lives of strangers.
Beste helps organize an effort known as "Crosses for Losses." Volunteers across the country handmake white crosses that are placed at memorials for those killed in shootings and other tragedies.
He traveled here from South Carolina with Tom Sandler, a friend and father who made the crosses for the Apalachee High School victims.
"I think [the crosses are] a tool to start the healing," Sandler said.
The cross-making program is run through the Lutheran Church Charities' "Hearts of Mercy and Compassion" initiative.
People visiting the Apalachee memorial can write messages of support on the crosses. They will then be given to the victims' families.
"We'd love to do more crosses," Beste said. "But we hope to never use them."