After lovely music by Bump and Barbara Jean, Care Partners Program Director Kay Grindland welcomed all to the “Light up a Life” event. After a very touching program, community members enjoyed refreshments and spent some time remembering friends and family members. Right: Bill and Nora Bockovich look through the memory book.
As local musicians Bump and Barbara Jean quietly played holiday music, people gathered in the atrium of the North Shore Hospital and Sawtooth Mountain Clinic for the third “Light up a Life” event on Tuesday, December 6. There was quiet visiting and some people paused in front of the book with the list of names commemorating loved ones being celebrated with the memory tree.
Kay Grindland of Care Partners, the organizer of the event, welcomed everyone, noting that the people of Cook County were not alone in this ceremony of remembrance. She said people all over the country, and indeed, the world, were conducting similar Light up a Life events, recalling loved ones lost. She said many, like the Care Partners event, financially support hospice or palliative care programs. She thanked everyone for coming and for their support of Care Partners.
Grindland asked Rev. Kris Garey to say a blessing. Before she began, Garey said, “One symptom of grief is distance— please, come closer.”
Attendees smiled through their grief and moved closer— some wrapping an arm around a friend or family member or clasping hands—as they listened to Garey’s brief message.
Together, Phyllis Parker and Jayne Johnson read the beautiful poem of remembrance on the right.
Then Grindland said, “We gather in the darkness at the darkest time of the year to remember these lives with light…” and the tree was lit— each bulb remembering a special someone.
Bump and Barbara Jean played This Little Light of Mine and Silent Night to wrap up the solemn event—and then there was more visiting, with some smiles and some tears.
If anyone would like a loved one’s name added to the memory book or represented by a light on the tree outside the atrium, they can still do so. Donation forms are available at area churches, businesses and on the web at www.northshorehealthcarefoundation.org/carepartners.
The event is organized by Care Partners, a collaborative of the North Shore Health Care Foundation, North Shore Hospital and Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, to fund palliative care and end of life services in Cook County.
For more information contact Kay Grindland, Care Partners Program Director at 387-3788 or email her at carepartners@boreal.org.
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