The Columbia chapter of the Compassionate Friends will host its annual national candle lighting service at 7 p.m. Sunday at the gazebo behind the Columbia-Marion County Public Library.
Carolyn McKenzie Newell, one of the chapter leaders, said Precious Memories Walk brick pavers will be dedicated in memory of children who have been lost.
Late last month, a tree was decorated at the library with personalized memorial butterflies.
“We moved the tree here because we’ve always had our candle lighting here,” she said.
The local ceremony has been held in Columbia for the past 22 years, though Compassionate Friends began more than 40 years ago in England when a hospital chaplain brought together two sets of grieving parents and realized that they could support each other better than he could. Today, the group has more than 700 chapters serving all 50 states and many countries across the world.
The Global Memorial Candle Lighting began in 1997 as a small observance but has grown substantially. Locally, a memorial gazebo with bricks with names of local children who have died is located behind the Columbia-Marion County Public Library where the ceremony will be. Last year’s event drew a large crowd.
For more information about the group, contact chapter leaders Carolyn McKenzie Newell at (601) 731-8218 or Sherry Broom at (601) 466-6612.
