Walk to Remember

 

The Compassionate Friends Walk to Remember® is a highlight of every TCF National Conference. It was created as a symbolic way to show the love we carry for the children we mourn. Held at 8 a.m. Sunday on the final day of the national conference it starts at the host hotel of the conference.  There is an air of anticipation and excitement as everyone gathers in preparation for the start of the Walk. Finally the Walk begins and, hand-in-hand everyone walks, meditating on a much different time in their lives. Since its inception in 2000, the Walk to Remember has taken on many distinctive facets. There is the main Walk to Remember where those attending the conference join with local bereaved families and others who fly in from across the country just for the Walk.  As many as 1400 have participated. Some go the full distance while others only walk a short way knowing that in participating, they are remembering. Special Walk to Remember T-shirts are given to all who register, as well as walk bibs where the names of the children being remembered can be written.

In conjunction with the main walk, we encourage people across the country to send in the names of the children for whom they grieve to be carried in the Walk. These are printed on 8 1/2" X 11" sheets of paper, placed in sheet protectors and carried by volunteers. Last year, more than 15,000 names are estimated to have been carried by those participating in the Walk to Remember.

The Walk to Remember is also used as a major fundraiser to help support the work of The Compassionate Friends. Many participants seek pledges from relatives, friends, neighbors, and business acquaintances, turning in the dollars they have raised prior to the start of the event.

Remember a Child, Support TCF in the "Friends Asking Friends®" Virtual Walk Fundraiser

Plan in 2012 to honor the memory of your child, sibling, or grandchild and support the work of The Compassionate Friends by building a remembrance website in the seventh "Friends Asking Friends®" virtual walk fundraiser. Many people depend upon The Compassionate Friends for support and you can help to guarantee TCF will always be there, even if you are unable to attend the Walk. In the Spring, we'll be placing a site online where individuals and teams (including teams created by TCF Chapters) register online, create a memorial website and, using e-mail and other methods, receive pledges and donations from friends, relatives, and businesses you frequent. The annual Friends Asking Friends program has raised as much as $100,000, critical in the outreach programs of The compassionate Friends, both on a national and local basis, as all TCF chapters are invited to participate. We ask for your help so that no one need walk this difficult grief journey alone! (Note: participation in the Friends Asking Friends fundraiser does not register you for the Walk to Remember).

Concurrent walks are held by many Compassionate Friends chapters in communities across the country. These are organized by the local chapters and can number as high as three or four hundred participants. In 2011, we received and posted on this page information on concurrent walks in a dozen communities across the country (including a statewide event in Connecticut). For 2012, we will list here, as received, information on local chapter Walks! If your chapter will be holding concurrent walk in 2012, please send the information to Wayne@compassionatefriends.org. after January 1, 2012.

Newspaper article: Tolland Patch 07/10/2011 First Connecticut Statewide Walk to Remember Held Saturday in Center Springs Park  (see pictures and story)

Newspaper article: Beacon.net7/20/2011 Grieving families walk to remember

(Picture Credit Michael Temchine Photography)