Feeds‘Friends’ to host holiday memorial
Click image to enlarge
Members of the Western Wayne Charter of Compassionate Friends stand near the special memorial tree in Kellogg Park.While many families view the holidays as their favorite time of the year, the season can also bring pain to those who have lost loved ones in the past year, especially children.
“The holidays are especially difficult for parents who have lost children,” said Gail Lafferty, 59, the leader of the western Wayne County chapter of the Compassionate Friends, the organization sponsoring a ceremony to celebrate the lives and memories of children who have died.
Hundreds of families from throughout Metro Detroit are expected to gather in Kellogg Park on Dec. 9 to join others from across the globe in the International Children’s Memorial Day event in downtown Plymouth.
The Compassionate Friends is an international non-profit, non-denominational, self-help organization dedicated to assist bereaved families dealing with the loss of a child. Lafferty, of Canton Township, said the international memorial, which is sanctioned by Congress, calls for candles all over the world to be lit at 7 p.m. As candles burn down in one time zone, candles will be lit in another creating 24-hour memorial event organizers describe, as the “Lights of Love”.
“This will produce a lights of love that will encircle the world,” Lafferty added.
In addition to candles, the Plymouth ceremony will include the dedication of a memorial tree decorated with ornaments emblazoned with the names of the children who were lost as well as a reading of their names. Poetry and songs are also included in the ceremony.
Lafferty who lost her teenage son, Max, to an automobile accident in 1995 said the event is therapeutic to parents, who lost a child or children who have lost a sibling.
“This candle lighting ceremony honoring them helps their memory live on,” Lafferty said.
The Compassionate Friends are urging those who have lost a child to register their loved children’s names and participate in the ceremony. For more information or to register, contact Lafferty at (734) 981-4528.
