ALMH Foundation hosts annual Light Up a Life ceremony

 

[December 05, 2019] 

The annual Light Up a Life ceremony at Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital took place on Tuesday evening. The ceremony hosted by the hospital and the ALMH Foundation is an opportunity to honor and remember those who have left this world. Many of those who are now gone were guests of the ALMH hospital at some point during their transition and were given careful loving care by hospital staff.

The Light Up a Life ceremony gives those who remain behind the opportunity to join together as one and remember. On this evening there are no generational boundaries as young and old alike understand and respect the ceremony as important to all in attendance.

The evening began with an opening prayer provided by Pastor Carroll Richards. After his prayer, the lighting of individual candles began. Pastor Richards encouraged each person there to remember and even whisper the name of the loved one or loved ones they were there to honor.

The lighting of the candles is ceremonious in its own right, with one person passing his lighted flame to the person next to him or her. A second candle lights, and then a third, and fourth. Before long, one-by-one the candles are lit and the darkened patio outside the Woods Café and the hospital glowed in amber candlelight.

As the candles were lit, Sheralyn Bolton read the poem Light a Candle.

Light a candle, see it glow, watch it dance when you feel low.
Think of me, think of light, I’ll always be here day or night.
A candle flickers, out of sight, but in your heart I still burn bright.
Think not of sadness that I’m not near, think of gladness and joyous cheer.
I have not left, I am not gone, I’m here to stay my dearest one.

So when you light a candle, and you see it glow, and you watch it dance, in your heart you’ll know, that I would never leave you, even when you feel so blue.
I’m sitting up here with the Lord, and now watching over you.

When the reading was completed, Pastor Richards led a second payer. Then there was a countdown to the lighting of the LUAL tree on the far side of the patio.

When the tree was all aglow, the group sang O’ Christmas Tree. Pastor Richards said the closing prayer and the group then sang Silent Night.

After the last song, everyone was invited inside for a soup supper. The ALMH kitchen staff had prepared ham sandwiches, cheese and cracker trays, fresh vegetable and dip trays, and a choice of chicken soup or chili.

Guests filled their plates and took seats in the Steinfort Conference Room. The over-flow of guests were encouraged to dine in the Woods Café that was officially closed for the night.

The supper time was a time to visit and remember loved ones to others and all enjoyed the delicious food.

In addition to the lighting ceremony, the foundation conducts a LUAL fundraiser each year. Those who wish may make a donation in memory of a loved one passed. The names of those who are remembered and by whom they are being remembered is then published in local media including Lincoln Daily News.

The money raised from the LUAL fundraiser stays at the hospital with investments made in new equipment and also in training and education for nursing staff.

The LUAL is a wonderful opportunity at Christmas time to remember loved ones, to celebrate community, and to also be thankful for our local medical professionals, our hospital and its staff.

[Nila Smith]