Garden of Innocence gets another angel

An abandoned-baby cemetery has another angel watching over its little ones at El Camino Memorial Park after a hand-sculpted bronze statue was permanently placed on the grounds March 25.

Carole Lee, of Vista, is a multimedia artist who donated the statue that measures about 2-feet tall, 2-feet deep and 2-feet wide.

“Gloria’s Love” is an angel reading to a girl child who is wearing a nightgown.

“It’s in a good place. It’s where it should be; helping send souls where they belong and are not alone,” Lee said.

Garden of Innocence is located in a tucked away section of the cemetery, behind the Madonna area, where tiny headstones are lined closely together. Until now, only one statue overlooked the single-named plots.

Lee said she heard about the Garden from a friend who noticed it while that friend was visiting the grave of a relative.

The Garden of Innocence is a nonprofit organization operating since 1998 in providing dignified burials for abandoned or unidentified babies in San Diego County.

Burial services are complete with flowers, music and an honor guard by Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus, San Diego Chapter.

Other volunteers make sure that each baby is given a handmade casket, a handmade blanket, a receiving blanket, a small new stuffed animal, a poem and their own name.

The most recent burial was December 1, 2012, when baby “Samuel” was laid to rest, bringing the number of babies there to 130.

For more information, visit gardenofinnocence.com.