The annual Windows to Heaven celebration of life, a memorial program that honors children who have died, will be held at 10 am on Saturday, February 8, in Lumpkin Family Center for Health Education at Sarah Bush Lincoln.
This service is open to anyone who has suffered the loss of a child and will feature a remembrance slide show. If you wish to attend, please contact bereavement counselor Resa Ware at 800-454-4055 or rware@sblhs.org so we can include your child’s name in the slide show.
Inspired by a Swedish children’s song, Windows to Heaven is a series of beautifully handcrafted windows from which an artist’s rendition of the brilliant night sky filled with stars can be seen. Its permanent home is in the chapel at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center.
Silver stars engraved with the child’s name will hang in the clear sky among other stars. Stars can be purchased for $30 each by parents, friends, or relatives of children who have died. Children need not have received care at Sarah Bush Lincoln to have a star hung in their honor, and their deaths need not be recent. Purchasing a star in not a prerequisite for participating in the service.
Funds raised from the purchase of stars will go toward bereavement services including literature, support groups, and counseling. Please consider purchasing a star to remember the loss of a child or start an annual donation in memory of the child you have already honored. Please join in this commemorative service to ensure that these children are always remembered.
Lincolnland Hospice offers two different support groups for those grieving the loss of a loved one of any age. Pathways through Grief is open to anyone who has lost a loved one. It meets from 7 to 8:30 pm on the first Wednesday of each month in the Lumpkin Family Center for Health Education at Sarah Bush Lincoln. Hopeful Horizons, another grief support group, meets from 1 to 2:30 pm on the third Thursday of each month at Lincolnland Hospice, located in Prairie Pavilion 2.
For more information or to sponsor a child’s star, please contact Lincolnland Hospice at 800-454-4055. The engraved stars must be pre-ordered and will be hung in the Windows to Heaven display in the Health Center’s chapel.