MUKILTEO — A city that has lost young people to suicide and violence this year has scheduled an event for the community to come together in quiet remembrance.
The deaths of Anna Bui, Jacob Long, Jordan Ebner, all shot at a house party in July, were one of the reasons for the candlelight event.
The community also has been shaken by the death of one Mukilteo student by suicide this school year, two during the 2015-16 school year and three in the 2014-15 school year.
“We thought with the deaths of the three young adults in Mukilteo and the suicides the last couple of years, it was something we wanted to do for the community to show support and give people a chance to remember their loved one,” said Joan Beck, a pastor at Mukilteo’s Pointe of Grace Lutheran Church.
The event is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the church at 5425 Harbour Pointe Blvd. The program begins with a candle lighting at 7 p.m., part of a worldwide remembrance of children who died organized by The Compassionate Friends, a nonprofit that provides support to families who have lost a child.
Church member Laura Crawford, who has lived in the community for 21 years, talked with Juli Lund, who leads the Kirkland chapter of The Compassionate Friends group about having Mukilteo join the global event.
“It starts at 7 p.m. and goes from one side of the world to another,” Lund said.
She said she hopes families who have lost children for any reason, whether as a stillborn, miscarriage, or the death of an adult child, will attend the local event.
“You don’t know how you’ll survive without your child,” said Lund, whose 18-year-old son, Christopher Lund, died on the Skykomish River in 2004. “The candle lighting is a way of remembering and honoring them.”
During the candle lighting, people will be invited to come forward and say the person’s name “or hand a card to me with the name,” Beck said.
“We are hoping that those who feel sad and raw in their grief will have others supporting them,” Beck said.
The holidays can be an especially tough time for people who have experienced loss, Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson said. The event is “another beautiful example of our community coming together to support one another,” she said.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
Ceremony
Mukilteo’s Pointe of Grace Lutheran Church has scheduled a nonsectarian candle lighting event in remembrance of any child who has died beginning at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. The church is at 5425 Harbour Pointe Blvd. The event is part of a worldwide commemoration organized by The Compassionate Friends, a nonprofit to support families after the death of a child.
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