Annual Compassionate Friends candlelight service December 14

6 p.m. December 14 service at The Well Church, candle lighting at 7 p.m.

SIDNEY -- The Panhandle community is invited to the Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting event.

The Candle Lighting is ceremony for families to remember, publicly children who have passed away. Forrest Hershberger, co-coordinator of the Sidney chapter, explained the history of Compassionate Friends.

"Compassionate Friends as I understand the history started, I think it was in Europe when a professional was trying to help a family who was going through loss of a child. This person directly could not relate to it so he started finding people who had gone through it. Short story is it became a network of families who understood that specific type of grief," said Hershberger.

The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting is held on the second Sunday in December. It unites family and friends 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 pm on December 14, hundreds of thousands of people commemorate and honor the memory of all children gone too soon.

The Sidney event begins at 6 p.m. and will include an encouraging message, music and a candle lighting moment.

He has been associated with the Sidney chapter since moving to Sidney. 

"I ran into Compassionate Friends when we moved to Sidney. Some friends were, I think might have invited me out or ran into them at a cafe. I got associated with the group. Some of the dynamics of the group changed, and I'm co-leading it with my wife," he said.

They know personally the value of a group like Compassionate Friends. They lost their daughter in motorcycle accident in 2006. He said he understands the importance of having someone in his life who understands a parent's grief.

"Some of it is about how do you handle the grief, and having someone around you just to support you," he said.

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.

For more information, or to submit a photo for the slide show, email Forrest at [email protected] 

Micayla MxConnell contributed to this story.