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Candle Light Memorial Service
The Arlington Chapter
Cordially invites
All bereaved families
to the annual Worldwide Candle lighting
in memory of our
beloved children
Sunday, December 9, 2007
6:30 PM
Trinity Presbyterian Church
5533 16th Street
Arlington, Virginia 22205
Please bring
a picture of your child, grandchild or sibling
for our photo table.
If you like, you may bring a snack or dessert
to share.
There will be a time after the service to greet old friends and meet
new ones as we share refreshments and talk about our children, our
grandchildren, and our children.
Announcements from the National office
Here is a wonderful way to support the mission of our national organization! I
have signed up with iGive.com and was amazed at the number of "A list" stores.
Here is the URL where this information can be found:
Your
Purchases Through iGive.com
Can Benefit The Compassionate Friends
When
a child has died, it seems like the world has stopped. Small tasks become
like giant mountains. Purchasing those items necessary to go on with life is
raised from an inconvenience to nearly insurmountable obstacles.
Now you can relieve some
of that burden to yourself and support TCF’s efforts to help bereaved
families throughout the United States by making your purchases through TCF’s
new online shopping mall partner, iGive.com. where up to 26% of the price of
your purchase is donated back to The Compassionate Friends to help it fund
its many national programs.
All
you have to do to participate is sign up at
www.iGive.com/TheCompassionateFriends,
designating The Compassionate Friends as your charity
of choice. If you then make a purchase within 45 days from any of the
participating iGive.com stores, TCF will receive a $5 donation from
iGive.com. in addition to the normal percentage from the purchase from that
store. You can enter anytime through the link toward the bottom of The
Compassionate Friends national website at www.compassionatefriends.org.
Or you can use the easy iGive.com
shopping window. This feature allows you to download a small software
program that then pops up a shopping window anytime you visit a store
participating in the iGive.com program, whether or not you enter through the
link on TCF’s national website. The shopping window tells you that the store
is participating in the iGive.com program and also advises you of the
percentage that will be donated to TCF from your purchase. All shopping is
secure and your privacy is assured.
Participating stores include such well-known
names as Apple iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Dell, Drugstore.com., Eddie
Bauer, e-bay, Enterprise, GAP, Home Depot, Hilton Hotels, Hotels.com.,
Hotwire, JCPenney, Kohl’s, Land’s End, L.L. Bean, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus,
Nordstrom, Office Depot, Office Max, Priceline, QVC, Radio Shack, Saks Fifth
Ave, Thrifty Car Rental, and United Airlines. There are hundreds of
additional large and small specialty and general merchandise stores. For a
complete list, visit
www.igive.com/html/mall.cfm.
Thank you for supporting
The Compassionate Friends!
Discovery Channel
Needs Your Videotape
Did your child die
from a long-term illness? In this situation, many families make a video record
of the last few months, weeks, and days as a way of creating lasting memories of
the child with the family.
The Discovery
Channel will be hosting a new series, as yet unnamed, that allows people to
honor a loved one through video footage they have shot. One episode of this new
show will focus on grief and grief support. According to co-producer Blake
Levin, “We are looking for people that kept video journals, diaries, or even
videotaped a loved one leading up to their passing. We are hoping that there are
people . . . that used the medium of video to help deal with their own grief.
The goal of this new series is to honor a loved one.”
As a public
awareness initiative, The Compassionate Friends is assisting Mr. Levin in his
search for families that have journaled through videotape the time leading up to
death of a child within their family. In return for the successful help of TCF
in this endeavor, the organization will be recognized during and at the end of
the program.
If you feel that you have videotape that could be used on
this program, please e-mail Mr. Levin with your name, where you are located, and
a description of the footage. Please write him at
YourDocs2007@arp.tv
and cc Wayne Loder, TCF’s public awareness coordinator at
wayne@compassionatefriends.org.
2008
Compassionate Employer Recognition
If your employer gave you special
support following the death of your child, sibling, or grandchild, and you would
like this to be honored, you are invited to nominate your company for the 2008
“Compassionate Employer Recognition” award. This program was established by The
Compassionate Friends in 2000 to recognize companies, both small and large, in
the public and private sector that have gone above and beyond the norm in
supporting employees—parents, siblings, or grandparents--who suffered the tragic
death of a child.
Nomination criteria and forms for
the 2005 CER program are available by visiting the national TCF Web site at
www.compassionatefriends.org and clicking on “Compassionate Employer
Recognition” on the home page. Nominations must be submitted on-line or
postmarked by midnight EST November 30, 2007. You can also call the national
office toll-free at 877-969-0010 for a nomination form.
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Save the Date!
Now is the time to mark July 18-20, 2008 on your
calendar so you can attend the 31st national conference of The
Compassionate Friends which will be held in Nashville, Tennessee.
Having selected the theme Volunteers for Healing
Friends for the Future, the conference committee is hard at work
to bring you the best healing experience possible, including special
guest speakers, more than 100 workshops covering most aspects of
grief following the death of a child, and many additional activities
including the ninth annual two-mile Walk to Remember at 8 a.m.
Sunday July, 20.
To allow everyone to be a part of this year’s conference
experience, the conference committee plans to decorate the
conference area with real 7” vinyl records that have pictures of our
children in the center. The “sponsor a record” program is similar to
programs available for previous conferences. For a nominal charge
(which helps to defray the cost of the conference), pictures sent in
by our membership of our TCF children, will decorate the
registration area, and reflection and hospitality rooms. Templates
and directions are available for download from The Compassionate
Friends website at www.compassionatefriends.org. Whether or not you
are able to attend the conference, a child, sibling, grandchild, or
loved one can still be remembered.
Those who attend the conference and have a record made
with their child’s picture will be able to carry them home. After
the conference concludes, those unable to attend who would like
their child’s record can have it mailed to them for a slight
additional charge.
The conference will be held at the Sheraton Music City
Hotel and special room rates will be available for guests attending
the conference. Watch TCF’s national website at
www.compassionatefriends.org for the latest information. More than
1,200 people are expected to attend. |
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