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 13th, 2020 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.
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 Tuesday, December 1st, through Monday, December 14th. 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 Virtual Worldwide Candle Lighting
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.
Pennsylvania
New Tripoli
Carbon County TCF Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 13, 2020 - 7:00 PM
- Location:
Brief Candles of Remembrance Ceremony, special music and slide show
- Highlights:
Brief Candles of Remembrance Ceremony, special music and slide show
*Please e-mail for the link
- Contact:
- Lora Krum
- Email:
- tcfcarboncounty@gmail.com
- Additional:
If you would like a photo of your child, grandchild or sibling to be included in the slide show, please e-mail to carbontcfremembrance@gmail.com, and include the name as you would like it to appear
Greensburg
Greensburg Chapter
- Date & Time:
- December 13, 2020 - 7:00 PM
- Location:
Virtual
373 East High Acres Road
- Highlights:
Virtual
- Contact:
- Tiffany Small
- Email:
- paratiff2@yahoo.com
- Additional:
In Memory of our son, Chace Small
Friedensburg
St. Johns Reformed Church
- Date & Time:
- December 13, 2020 - 6 PM - 7 PM
- Location:
St. John’s Reformed Church, 17 Chestnut Street, Friedensburg, PA (behind the Friedensburg Fire House)
- Highlights:
Each child will be recognized individually with their name and bio read. A slide show with all the children’s pictures will be shown at 7PM when we light the Compassionate Friends candles.
- Bring:
Attendees are asked to wear face masks. If you don’t have one, we will provide one for you.
- Special Events (after):
Due to Covid 19 restrictions, there will be no time of fellowship after the service
- Contact:
- Debra Marbarger
- Telephone:
- 570-739-4594
- Email:
- debramarbarger@yahoo.com
- Additional:
Photos can be e-mailed (with a short bio of your child) to debramarbarger@yahoo.com or mailed to Debra Marbarger, 411 Schwartz Valley Rd., Schuylkill Haven, PA 17972
All photos and bios should be received by December 7th, 2020
Pittsburgh
West Penn Hospital
- Date & Time:
- December 13, 2020 - 7:00 PM
- Location:
Email jaclyn,neilly@ahn.org for rsvp by Dec 8th with spelling of your child’s name. Mention you recieved info from the compassionate friends web site. You will recieve a link to a video where we will lead you to light your own candle at home at 6:55pm
- Contact:
- Jaclyn Neilly
- Email:
- jaclyn.neilly@ahn.org
