Anticipation is building as the 16th Worldwide Candle Lighting December 9, 2012 approaches.  The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting unites family and friends around the globe in lighting candles for one hour to honor and remember children who have died at any age from any cause.

As candles are lit at 7 p.m. local time, creating a virtual wave of light, hundreds of thousands of persons commemorate and honor the memory of beloved children in a way that transcends all ethnic, cultural, religious and political boundaries.

Now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on the globe, the Worldwide Candle Lighting, a gift to the bereavement community from The Compassionate Friends, creates a virtual 24-hour wave of light as it moves from time zone to time zone. Hundreds of formal candle lighting events are held annually and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted in homes as families gather in quiet remembrance of children who have died, but will never be forgotten.

Every year you are invited to post a message in the Remembrance Book which will be available at TCF’s national website during the event. Last year in that short one day span, nearly five thousand messages of love were received and posted, originating from every U.S. state plus Washington D.C., every territory, as well as dozens of other countries, with some posts in foreign languages.

Please join us for a Candle Light Memorial in memory of our children who were so very much a part of the holidays during their lives and who are still a part of the holidays even in their absence.

The event is open to the public and is non-denominational; Compassionate Friends welcomes parents, siblings, grandparents, brothers, sisters, other family members and friends. An informal reception will follow with refreshments. The Worldwide Candle Lighting gives bereaved families everywhere the opportunity to remember their child–that their light may always shine!

We invite you to join us on December 9, 2012, at Unity Church of the Roanoke Valley, located at 3300 Green Ridge Rd., N.W. in Roanoke at 6 p.m.

Submitted by Sherry Cameron, The Compassionate Friends.