Condolence: Please join us for the Prince William Chapter of the Compassionate Friends hosting the 20th Annual Worldwide Candle Lighting Ceremony. On Sunday, December 11, 2016 the doors will open at 6:00 pm and the ceremony will start promptly at 7:00 pm. at Buckhall United Methodist Church, 10251 Moore Drive, Manassas, VA 20111. The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting 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 at 7:00 p.m. local time, hundreds of thousands of persons commemorate and honor the memory of all children gone too soon. The ceremony consists of readings of poems, songs, stories, reading of our Angel's names with candles being lit.

Anyone who would like to read a poem, story, remembrance or sing a song at the Candle Lighting, please send an e-mail to Jennifer Malloch at tcfmanassas@gmail.com so that we can plan accordingly.

There will be a slide presentation during the ceremony. If you would like to have your child's photo added to the slide presentation, please send your photos to Shane Williams at swilliams@tcfprincewilliam.org by noon on Sunday, November 27th. Please either limit your photos to 5 or create 5 collages of your child's photos.

Please bring a picture of your child to display and share. Please bring a refreshment to share during the fellowship after the ceremony.

RSVPs are not required but greatly appreciated. Please RSVP to Jennifer Malloch at tcfmanassas@gmail.com. It would be greatly appreciated If you could specify whether you will be bringing drinks, appetizer or dessert when you RSVP. Please share this information with family, friends and anyone you think would be interested. If you are unable to attend in person, please light a candle from 7 pm until 8 pm in your time zone to honor all of Our Children Gone Too Soon.

Now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on the globe, the 20th annual Worldwide Candle Lighting, 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 WWCL started in the United States in 1997 as a small internet observance, but 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, but will never be forgotten. 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.

Condolence: Dear Family: We, the families of The Compassionate Friends, send you our heartfelt condolences. The Compassionate Friends is an international grief support group for parents, grandparents and siblings who have suffered the heartbreaking loss of a child. Our only mission is to provide comfort, hope and support to every family experiencing the death of a son or daughter, brother or sister, or grandchild, and to help others better assist the grieving family. We meet monthly in Manassas from 7:30-9 PM on the third Tuesday of each month at Buckhall United Methodist Church, 10251 Moore Drive, Manassas, VA 20111. If and when you are ready to do so, please join us. We Need Not Walk Alone. We are The Compassionate Friends.
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The Compassionate Friends
Prince William Chapter
571/229-0768
http://www.tcfprincewilliam.org
http://www.compassionatefriends.org
tcfmanassas@gmail.com