Worldwide Candle Lighting Memorial Service
The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting on the 2nd Sunday in December unites family and friends around the globe in lighting candles for one hour to honor the memories of the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and grandchildren who left too soon. As candles are lit on December 10th, 2023 at 7:00 pm local time, hundreds of thousands of people commemorate and honor the memory of all children gone too soon.
Now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on the globe, the annual Worldwide Candle Lighting (WCL), 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. TCF’s WCL started in the United States in 1997 as a small internet observance and has since swelled in numbers as word has spread throughout the world of the remembrance. Hundreds of formal candle lighting events are held, and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted in homes, as families gather in quiet remembrance of children who have died and will never be forgotten.
Add a Candle Lighting Program
IMPORTANT: If you attempt to submit your candle lighting service and we do not contact you or your service is not listed within 48 hours, please contact kathiek@compassionatefriends.org.
We also will be holding a virtual candle lighting for those who would prefer to attend virtually. We will have four programs in the
Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones.
Register below for your time zone.
Virtual Worldwide Candle Lighting
Every year you are invited to post a message in the Remembrance Book which will be available, during the event, at TCF’s national website. The Remembrance Book will be open to post a message Thursday, December 1st, through Friday, December 16th. Photos can be posted on our Worldwide Candle Lighting Facebook page.
The Compassionate Friends and allied organizations are joined by local bereavement groups, churches, funeral homes, hospitals, hospices, children’s gardens, schools, cemeteries, and community centers. Services have ranged in size from just a few people to nearly a thousand.
Click on your state below to view Worldwide Candle Lighting events in your area.
View International Countries
If you do not see a candle lighting program in your area, contact your local chapter to see if they are planning a program. Find a chapter.
North Carolina
Benson
Benson First Assembly of God
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:45 PM
- Location:
Benson First Assembly of God
Address: 11699 US-301, Benson, NC 27504
- Highlights:
Readings, special music, reading of children. grandchildren, and siblings’ names,
- Bring:
A small framed that stands up picture of your loved one.
- Special Events (after):
Light refreshments will be served
- Contact:
- James Tucker
- Telephone:
- 919-271-7864
- Email:
- phototucker@gmail.com
- Additional:
To attend virtual search on Face Book for James Tucker from Smithfield, NC.
New Bern
Craven County Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 7:00 PM
- Location:
Morris Mininstry Center at Garber Church
4202 Country Club Road
Room 310
- Highlights:
Lighting of candles, sharing memories of your children, grandchildren, siblings.
- Bring:
Pictures, snacks optional.
- Special Events (before):
Gathering at 6:00 PM snacks and visiting before the candle lighting
- Contact:
- Wendy B Fisher
- Telephone:
- 252-670-1606
- Email:
- wfisheroil@hotmail.com
Charlotte
Southern Piedmont Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 5:00 PM
- Location:
First Presbyterian Church
1621 East Garrison Blvd
Gastonia, NC 28054
- Highlights:
Our program includes a speaker, lighting of memorial candles, reading of the names and individual candles lit.
- Bring:
Please bring a candle and a candle holder as your candle will be placed on a table with others. The candle will be picked up after the services have completed.
- Special Events (before):
Event is held in the small chapel of the church
- Special Events (after):
Light refreshments will be served after the event
- Contact:
- Candace Hulsey
- Telephone:
- 704-678-6537
- Email:
- cdhulsey@gmail.com
Charlotte
TCF of Charlotte North Carolina
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:30 PM
- Location:
St. Matthew Catholic Church
8015 Ballantyne Commons Pkwy.
Charlotte, NC
- Highlights:
Parent, grandparents and sibling speakers, reading of children, grandparent, and sibling names, with special music, followed by potluck dinner and social gathering.
- Bring:
Photos of children, grandparent, and siblings.
- Special Events (before):
None
- Special Events (after):
Potluck dinner and social gathering.
- Contact:
- Susan Fletcher
- Telephone:
- 704-534-8332
- Email:
- fletcher1mom@gmail.com
Mooresville
TCF of Mooresville
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:30 PM
- Location:
Williamson Chapel United Methodist Church
575 S. Brawley School Road
Mooresville, NC 28117
- Highlights:
We will have readings, a slideshow of our children, grandchildren, and sibling and live music.
- Bring:
Please bring a photo of your children, grandchildren, and sibling, 8×10 or smaller to display and an appetizer or a dessert to share.
- Special Events (after):
Dinner immediately following.
- Contact:
- Rhonda Hutton
- Telephone:
- 704-313-8281
- Email:
- TCFofMooresville@gmail.com
Locust
TCF of Stanly County
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 7:00 PM
- Location:
Community Baptist 818 N Central Ave Locust, NC 28097
- Contact:
- Paula Fox
- Telephone:
- +1 (704) 791-5326
- Email:
- Pfoxrnmicn@gmail.com
- Additional:
If you plan on coming , please email a picture of your loved one and birthday. We can add it to the slide show. If your unable to get picture in time, bring a picture the night of service to sit out on table .
Winston Salem
TCF of Winston-Salem
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
- Location:
“Lighting Of the Luminaries” event where attendees will decorate luminary bags in honor of their children, grandchildren, and siblings who have died and then illuminate the bags as a group.
This program will be held at the open space in front of Cugino Forno Pizza and Incendiary Brewing (also known as “coal pit”). 486 N Patterson Ave, Winston-Salem, NC 27101
- Highlights:
Registrants for the event will receive one luminary bag and battery-operated candle to decorate, and then illuminate as a group. As each person/family illuminates their luminary bag, they will have the option of saying their children, grandchildren, and sibling’s name. Registrants will also have the option to speak, read poetry, or perform a song in tribute to their children, grandchildren, and sibling’s. Details are still being finalized, but we anticipate having complimentary coffee and hot chocolate available. In addition, the pizzeria and brewery will be open for those individuals who wish to purchase food or drinks. We are also hoping to have quiet, live music.
- Bring:
Registrants will receive one luminary bag and candle. People who arrive at the event without registering, or those wishing to decorate more than one bag, should bring their own luminary bag and candle (battery operated.. no open flame).
- Special Events (before):
Event will start at 5:30 PM at which time registrants may pick up their bag and candle, and then decorate them until 7:00 PM at which point we will be illuminating them.
- Contact:
- Bill Beyea
- Telephone:
- 336-794-6538
- Email:
- compassionatefriendsws@gmail.com
- Additional:
To register for the event, please visit the following link:
Raleigh
Wake County Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:45 PM
- Location:
The Nature Center at White Deer Park in Garner, NC
Once you turn into the park, signs will direct you to the Nature Canter
- Bring:
Bring a framed photo of your children, grandchildren and siblings that will stand on a table. You may bring a small votive candle if you have one, or we will provide one.
- Special Events (after):
The ceremony usually lasts about 45 minutes, after which we will mingle and share light snacks.
- Contact:
- Judy Schneider
- Email:
- jschn_2000@yahoo.com