Compassionate Friends Candle Lighting Dec. 8

The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting, which 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 died too soon, will be held Sunday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. at Center Point Church in Griffin.Pike County members will join hundreds of thousands of others to commemorate and honor the memory of all children gone too soon as candles are lit at 7 p.m. local time. Now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on the globe, the 17th 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.Started in the United States in 1997 as a small internet observance, the event has since swelled in numbers as word has spread through the world of the remembrance. Hundreds of formal candle lighting events are held and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted as families gather in remembrance of children who have died but will never be forgotten.Starting in New Zealand, on Dec. 8, candles are lit at 7 p.m. local time. As candles burn down in one time zone, they are lit in the next, creating a virtual 24-hour wave of light as the observance continues around the world. TCF’s website, compassionatefriends.org, will host extended chat room hours and a message board for families to post tributes. Last year there were more than 5,340 posted messages.For information call 877-969-0010 or the local chapter at 678-972-9352. To take part by sharing a story, reading a poem or something special about a child call Brent Taylor by Dec. 5 at 678-972-9352.