The death of a child is devastating and it's important to the family that the child always be remembered.  That's why members of the Detroit Chapter of The Compassionate Friends (TCF) will participate in an annual worldwide event designed to honor the memories of all children, regardless of age, who have died. 

The chapter is joining Sunday, December 9, 2012 with hundreds of organized memorial services around the world for The Compassionate Friends 16th annual Worldwide Candle Lighting, an event now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting in the world. The local candle lighting will be part of a special service held at 6:00 p.m. at Redford Aldersgate United Methodist Church-West Outer Drive Campus, located at 12065 West Outer Drive in Detroit. The program will feature music, readings, and poems. 

Annually tens of thousands of families, united in loss, light candles for one hour during Worldwide Candle Lighting, held the second Sunday in December. Candles are first lit at 7 p.m. local time, just west of the International Date Line. As candles burn down in one time zone, they are lighted in the next, creating a 24-hour wave of light as the observance continues around the world.