The death of a child is devastating and it’s important to the family that the child always be remembered. That’s why members The Compassionate Friends (TCF) of Fort Dodge 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, with hundreds of organized memorial services around the world for The Compassionate Friends 20th 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 p.m. on Sunday at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1436 21st Ave. N., and will feature music, readings and poems. Annually tens of thousands of families, united in loss, light candles for one hour during the 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.