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Davis Enterprise - December 4, 2005

 On Sunday, Dec. 11, a day known as Children’s Memorial Day, area residents plan to gather in Woodland to light candles in memory of the children they have lost.
They will be taking part in the Worldwide Candle Lighting, an annual event that was started in 1997 by The Compassionate Friends, a grief support network with chapters in 29 countries that offers support and friendship for families grieving the death of a child of any age.
TCF’s Sacramento Valley chapter, which includes Davis and Woodland, will gather for the candle lighting from 6 to 8:30 p.m. next Sunday at the Lion’s Club House, 417 Lincoln Ave. in Woodland. The event is sponsored by Appraisals To Go and Appraisal Dynamics, both of Davis.
Each family may bring a candle to light in honor of the child they’ve lost, though extra candles will be available at the event if needed. Refreshments will be provided.
To RSVP for this event, contact Darlene Johnson at (916) 457-4096 or Cecilia Gabrielli by e-mail at mackiezmom@aol.com. 
Held each year on the second Sunday in December, the Worldwide Candle Lighting allows grieving families to know their children will never be forgotten, “whether that child died 60 years ago or yesterday,” said Patricia Loder, executive director of The Compassionate Friends. 
“This event surpasses all artificial, religious and cultural boundaries, allowing us to mourn as one when death robs the world of its most valuable resource,” Loder said.
Families and friends to unite and light a candle from 7 to 8 p.m. in their local time zone in honor of the children who left them too soon. As the candles burn down in one time zone they are lighted in the next, “creating a 24-hour wave of light that "encircles the globe,” says TCF’s national Web site, TheCompassionateFriends.org.
Also on Sunday, the Web site will host a daylong “Remembrance Book” for people to leave messages in memory of their children, as well as extended online chatroom hours from 3 to 7 p.m. local time.
The Compassionate Friends began in Coventry, England, in 1969, when two sets of parents bonded following the deaths of their two young sons. They later invited other grieving parents to join them, and eventually organized as a self-help group called The Society of the Compassionate Friends.
Today, there are TCF chapters throughout the world, with nearly 600 in the United States alone. In the U.S., chapters are open to all bereaved parents, siblings, grandparents and other family members who are grieving the death of a child of any age, from any cause.
Information about the nonprofit organization and the locations of its chapters are available at its Web site or by calling its toll-free number, (877) 969-0010.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 747-8048.
 

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