In this season of light,
remember the light that your loved one
brought to your life.

We honor personal relationships when we join in a candle lighting ritual. As we come together and draw strength from one another, the beautiful gesture of lighting a candle and creating a small circle of light becomes a meaningful act.

In addition to candle lighting in the groups, we offer two more opportunities to come together.

Sunday, December 9th at 7 pm, you may come to The Children's Room in Arlington to take part in the Worldwide Candle Lighting along with members of the Compassionate Friends.  All around the world, families will light candles at 7pm local time in memory of a child who has died (at any age).  Please bring a photo or memory item if you would like.  This candle lighting is open to the public, and we request RSVPs so we can plan.  Email or call us (781-641-4741).

Wednesday, December 12th at 7 pm, we will hold an additional candle lighting night for anyone in our community to attend. We welcome current or former families, volunteers, or other members of the community to come to The Children's Room in Arlington. Parents tell us this all-group event is affirming and helpful. Please call (781-641-4741) or email to RSVP if you would like to volunteer or join us for this special evening.

The holidays and the end of the year are a challenging time for anyone who is grieving. Many families find it useful to reevaluate their plans year by year, following their own instincts about what to do or not do.

The Children's Room staff has been busy, not only managing the groups during the week, but also visiting schools and talking to teachers, parents and counselors about how to help children who are grieving.

Just this past month, we have worked with schools in Waltham and Lexington.  We also led a training session for school counselors in Brighton.  Up next on our calendar is a meeting with staff from the Perkins School for the Blind.  These opportunities allow The Children's Room to spread our message to a broader community, and to promote our mission of caring assistance to children through support groups, outreach and education.

Did you know that over 100 people volunteer at The Children's Room on a monthly basis?  Whether by facilitating a group, planning an event, working in our office, or serving on a committee or board, our dedicated volunteers make The Children's Room special. 

We would like to create a Volunteer Council! We envision a group similar to our Parent Council.  The Parent Council was formed by a collection of parents, who have come together as a group to generate ideas about how to help The Children's Room.  We are looking for volunteers of all types to bring their special talents, provide leadership, and enrich friendships as they take part in meaningful activities that support the children in our community. 

Our first, informal, informational meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 9th at 6 pm at the Arlington site.  Dinner will be provided.  Please RSVP to let us know that you are coming. We welcome your participation.

On Sunday, February 3rd at 3 pm, our Teen Theatre Troupe will have its first performance of 2008!  Join us to hear from teen members of our community, in their own words, as they offer a powerful original performance, to be held at the Arlington Center for the Arts. After the performance, we will have refreshments in the Art Gallery, where we will view a selection of art created by children from our program at The Children's Room.  We need a committee to help with this exciting event, so please email or call us if you can help.

Many of you have already received our Annual Fund appeal letter. We thank the Kinneys, an "alumni" family who attended our Framingham program.  We appreciate how graciously they shared their story with everyone.  We hope their words give testimony to the enduring need for our program, and inspire each person who reads our appeal to donate generously this year to The Children's Room.  Our Annual Fund supports our direct operations, primarily the salaries of our staff, which many foundations do not support. Our annual fund is our largest and most efficient fundraiser of the year, so please donate today.  Donating online is an efficient way for The Children's Room to raise important funds.  Click here to donate online.