Several people spoke at the nearly hour-long service reminded those in attendance that the child was in heaven and that they need to pray for the unity of the community as well as Bella’s grieving family.
Amber McComb, a Liberty Twp. resident, said she and her Girl Scout Troop 43619 were ready to donate their time to help out at the family’s restaurant.
After the service, McComb said she became familiar with the family’s Chinese restaurant to get take-out food after her daughter’s swim lessons.
“It’s a warm and friendly restaurant that made you feel like family coming over,” she said. “They’re very loving and caring people.”
McComb said her troop held their meeting at the restaurant on Tuesday night.
“I was shocked to learn that they owned the restaurant,” she said.
McComb’s fellow troop leader, Mari Dyer of West Chester Twp., said Tuesday night was the first time she was at the family’s restaurant and also learned that her daughter likes rice.
Dyer also spoke at the service, saying that “we’re so sorry” about Bella’s death and had left a poem she wrote at the restaurant.
“I can’t imagine what you’re going through,” she said. “I don’t know you and you’ve never seen me before, but I’m there for you.”
Pastor Warren Curry of Life Changers Church said he lives in the Villages of Providence subdivision in West Chester Twp., just a few blocks from the home of the Shi family.
However, Curry said he hadn’t met the family to introduce himself. He said his church offered to host the service because “it seemed like a natural fit to open our doors to the community after hearing about the tragedy.”
Curry said the Shi family was at the service after deciding to attend at the last minute.
During the service, Curry reminded the audience of the old proverb, adding that “times like this reminds us that we need each other.”
He urged people to carve out some time out of their busy schedules and be willing to be of service to Bella’s family in any way possible.
In additional to a number of community residents in attendance, there were several residents from the subdivision as well as several staff members from Endeavor Elementary School and Creekside Early Childhood Center of the Lakota school district.
Curry, who became a father of a sixth child just days ago, asked the audience to take home a candle that was being passed out and to take a one to two minute video to encourage and support the family. He asked for this to be done in the next 24 hours and upload to Twitter #VOPBellaShi.
A short photo gallery was shown of the infant after the services concluded.
“There was a great amount of support from the community, the schools and the neighborhood tonight,” Curry said.
Emergency crews were dispatched to the 8400 block of Windy Harbor Way in the Villages of Providence subdivision around 1:55 p.m. Monday. The baby’s grandparents and two children were walking with the infant when the stroller somehow rolled down an embankment and into the retention pond, according to township officials.
Responding the scene at 2:03 p.m., crews searched the murky water for 20 minutes before finding Bella still strapped to the stroller about 10 to 15 feet from the edge of the pond in water that was approximately 10 feet deep, according to Barb Wilson, spokeswoman for West Chester Twp.
Crews performed CPR and rescue breathing before taking the child to Cincinnati Children’s Liberty Campus, where she was taken by helicopter to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati.
Bella spent 30 minutes in water that was between 30 to 40 degrees before her stroller was located, Wilson said.
West Chester police ruled the death an accidental one and charges will not be pressed, she said.
This is not the first retention pond drowning that has occurred in the township. In June 2007, a 45-year-old man drowned after attempting to retrieve a remote-control boat from a pond bordered by northbound Interstate 75 and Windisch Road.
Any warning signs or protective measures fall under the jurisdiction of a subdivision’s homeowner’s association, Wilson said.
A neighbor who called 911 said she heard crying and screaming from beside the pond, but could not talk to the family because they did not speak English and could not enter the water because she was unable to swim.
Neighbors told the Journal-News on Tuesday that they are discussing what can be done to enhance safety around the ponds and how they can to help cover funeral expenses for the girl’s parents, who work at a Chinese restaurant they own while grandparents serve as primary caregivers for the children.
They said the community is a close-knit one and that this is the first time there has been an incident of this nature.
Staff Writer Eric Schwartzberg contributed to this report.
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