Vigil provides a time for hope and healing

     An Angel of Hope stands in the center of Coal City’s Campbell Memorial Park, a place for reflection and remembrance, a symbol of hope for all parents whose children have become angels.
    The angel statue serves as a place for bereaved parents to find hope for peace and comfort for healing.
    The concept is taken from Richard Paul Evans’ best-selling book, “The Christmas Box,” in which an elderly woman grieves the loss of her daughter at the base of an angel monument.
    Although the story is mostly fictional, the monument once existed and is believed to have been destroyed by floods. A new statue was later commissioned by the book’s author in response to accounts of parents seeking out the angel as a place to grieve and heal.
    Since the monument’s December 1994 dedication in Salt Lake City, UT, other communities have embraced the concept and have commissioned their own Angel of Hope statue.
    The local statue, the 69th nationwide, was brought to the community by Angels of Hope Inc. and dedicated in October 2006 to provide parents from around the area a place to honor their children.
    The annual candlelight remembrance vigil will be held at the statue on Thursday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m. The public is invited to participate in the vigil that serves to honor the memory of deceased children of any age from conception to adulthood, from anywhere in the world. Similar ceremonies will take place that evening at the sites of other Angel of Hope statues across the United States.
    At the close of the ceremony attendees are encouraged to leave a single white flower at the base of the angel in honor of a lost child.
    For more information about Angels of Hope visit the website at www.angelsofhopeinc.org.