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.
New York
Albany
Albany/Harold Mitchell Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 19, 2023 - 7:30 PM
- Location:
Westminster Presbyterian Church, 85 Chestnut Street, Albany, NY 12210
- Highlights:
Readings, violin music, lighting candles, and saying children, grandchildren, and sibling names, with refreshments.
- Bring:
Refreshments to share
- Special Events (after):
Sharing time
- Contact:
- Kathleen Kelleher
- Telephone:
- 518-439-1114
- Email:
- kathleen.kelleher17@gmail.com
- Additional:
If you are using GPS to get directions, use the street address and not the church name.
Bellerose
Bereavement Ministry of St. Gregory the Great, Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Snows
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 7:00 PM
- Location:
St Gregory the Great Church
242-20 88th Ave.
Bellerose, NY 11426
- Highlights:
Service with readings, music, and lighting of candles as children, grandchildren and sibling names are read.
- Bring:
If they wish, they may bring a photo.
- Special Events (after):
After the service and candle lighting, there will be refreshments and fellowship.
- Contact:
- Cathy Crimmins
- Telephone:
- 516 352-4202
- Email:
- crimdogs7@yahoo.com
New York City
COPE
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:30 PM
- Location:
N/A, event will be held online via Zoom
- Highlights:
COPE Founder, Lilly Julien will speak and share selected poems. Participants have the option to submit a photo of their children, grandchildren, and siblings to be shared in their memory.
- Bring:
Attendees interested in submitting a photo should send it prior to the event to info@copefoundation.org
- Contact:
- Claire Sharkey
- Telephone:
- (516) 274-0540
- Email:
- claire@copefoundation.org
Olean
Noah David Boser Children’s Memorial Events Committee
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:30 PM
- Location:
The program will be held at the Lincoln Square Pavilion in Lincoln Park, at the corner of East State Street and South Union Street in Olean, NY
- Highlights:
The candle lighting event in Olean is open to the general public. Candles will be provided for everyone to light. The program will include music, poems and children, grandchildren, and sibling names will be read to coincide with candle lighting at 7 PM. Anyone who would like to participate in any way is encouraged to do so.
- Bring:
Parents, grandparents, siblings, families and friends who would like to honor the memory of a children, grandchildren, and siblings who left too soon, are invited to bring a photograph or memento of their children, grandchildren, and siblings to display during the memorial services.
- Special Events (before):
Attendees should arrive by 6:30 PM. to post their photos and make certain their children, grandchildren, and siblings names are listed for the reading, with the candle lighting to begin at 7 PM. Cookies and Beverages will be available.
- Special Events (after):
To coincide with this event, a tree located in Olean Lincoln Park has been decorated in memory of children, grandchildren, and siblings gone too soon. People are encouraged to come throughout the holiday season and place an ornament on the tree in memory of their children, grandchildren, and siblings special to them.
- Contact:
- Kathy Boser
- Telephone:
- 716-904-1838
- Email:
- kboser@sbu.edu
Staten Island
Staten Island Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:30 PM
- Location:
Immanuel Lutheran Chuech
2040 Richmond Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10305
- Highlights:
Sharing stories about our loved ones.
- Bring:
Pictures
- Special Events (before):
Sharing
- Special Events (after):
Snacks
- Contact:
- Varda Wendroff
- Telephone:
- 201-314-1679
- Email:
- Vwendroff@aol.com
Medford
TCF Brookhaven Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 5:30 PM
- Location:
St. Sylvester’s Church 68 Ohio Ave. Medford , NY 11963
Gathering at 6pm. Starting the candle lighting at 5:30pm.
- Highlights:
We will supply candles and the program. We will all say our children, grandchildren, and sibling names as we light our candles.
- Bring:
Please bring a framed picture to display during the candle lighting. also, you may bring a dessert.
- Special Events (before):
We will be serving light appetizers and beverages before the ceremony .
- Special Events (after):
We will be serving coffee, tea and desserts after the ceremony.
- Contact:
- Joanne Wik
- Telephone:
- 516-356-4297
- Email:
- joannetcf@optimum.net
Clay/Syracuse
TCF of Central NY
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 7:00 PM
- Location:
Immanuel Lutheran Church
4947 Route 31
Clay, NY 13041
Church is handicap accessible
- Highlights:
Readings, special music, slide show of children, siblings, and grandchildren pictures, reading of all children, siblings, and grandchildren names with lighting of the candles.
- Special Events (before):
Making of luminaries in memory of loved ones from 6:30 to 6:45
- Special Events (after):
Sharing social time with light refreshments served after the ceremony
- Contact:
- Susan Kimball
- Telephone:
- 315-288-3789
- Email:
- TCFofCNY@gmail.com
- Additional:
To be included in the slide show of our loved ones, please send a JPEG picture of your children, siblings, and grandchildren with their name, date of birth and date of death by email to TCFofCNY@gmail.com.
Please RSVP with the number of family/friends who will be attending by 12/3/2023 by calling 315-288-3789 or emailing TCFofCNY@gmail.com
Oneonta
TCF of the Oneonta Region Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:30 PM
- Location:
UUSO Church, 12 Ford Avenue, Oneonta, NY 13820
- Highlights:
In addition to lighting candles, the Oneonta program will include a variety of music (including 2 live performances), poetry, personal stories, and a memory photo presentation set to music.
Patrons may submit photos of their children, grandchildren, and siblings for use in the memory slide show by contacting Kathryn Davino at davino@delhitel.net. Photos must be received by 12/08/23. A commemorative ornament, hand-painted by a local artist, will be once again given to each family in attendance as a gift from the Oneonta Region Chapter, along with a long-stemmed rose.
- Bring:
Even though the official ceremony begins at 7 PM, participants are encouraged to arrive at the UUSO between 6:30 PM and 6:45 PM, and to bring a small picture of your children, grandchildren, and siblings, if you are able. The photo will be placed behind one of the individual votive candles that will be arranged on our special Memory Table. Candles will be provided.
- Special Events (after):
Refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the ceremony.
- Contact:
- Kathryn and Al Davino
- Telephone:
- 607-746-7396
- Email:
- davino@delhitel.net
- Additional:
Masks are not required, but we strongly encourage wearing masks to prevent the spread of seasonal diseases. The UUSO church is accessible to those who are disabled. For more information visit www.tcfoneonta.org.
North Tonawanda
Wattengel Funeral Home
- Date & Time:
- December 10, 2023 - 6:45 PM
- Location:
Children’s Remembrance Garden
216 Payne Ave. North Tonawanda NY 14120
- Highlights:
Readings, Special Music, Speakers, Lighting of Candles
- Bring:
Dress for the weather
- Special Events (after):
Hot Cocoa
- Contact:
- Greg Wood
- Telephone:
- 716-692-0440
- Email:
- wattengelfh@gmail.com
- Additional:
Please Dress for the Weather