A very special event was held last Tuesday evening at Webster Comfort Care Home, when more than 270 luminaria lined the home’s parking lot, lighting up the evening with memories.
Webster Comfort Care Home (WCCH), located at the corner of Holt and Klem roads, provides free hospice care to the terminally ill of our Webster community. The dedicated staff members and volunteers there uphold the dignity and ease the suffering of its residents, while supporting their loved ones in a warm, home-like atmosphere.
That mission was illuminated in a special way last Tuesday during the home’s second annual “Their Light Shines” remembrance event, when community members were invited to light a luminaria in honor of their loved one.
Before the evening was over, almost 275 luminarias had been lit and placed around the perimeter of the home’s large parking lot, honoring 62 residents. The daughter of a past resident spoke, and shared her story about how it felt watching her mom leave her home, come to the Comfort Care Home, how she was cared for, and how the experience moved her to become a resident care volunteer herself.
Attendees enjoyed apples and cider donated by Schutt’s Apple Mill, Herman’s Farm Market and Bauman’s Farm Market, and a wide variety of homemade cookies. Music was provided by Leah Sherman and Erin T. and Michael Miller and their groups who played the clarinet, violin, piano. The son of a former volunteer and resident made a slide show of every resident’s name, and several people paused to take a photo when their loved one’s name appeared.
So many volunteers came together to make this event happen. Volunteers who wrote names on the luminaria, filled them with sand and directed traffic into the parking lot across the street. Members of the Webster Police Department even stopped by to see if they could lend a hand with anything.
“It was a real Webster Comfort Care Home community/family effort,” said director Julianne Groff.
She added,
We had families of residents (who were here) years ago attend, to a family who had just lost their loved one days before. A mom whose son died here last year made her first return to the Home, something she didn’t think she could do, and was reunited with the nurse who was holding her son’s hand when he died. There were lots of tears at that reunion.
Their Light Shines was a chance for the community to come together, to share our losses, to share an emotional moment, to share our stories and a piece of our loved ones. They may not be with us any longer, but their light shines through in every moment of every day, in every thought, in every memory, in everything we do. We carry them with us in so many ways.
The lights remained in the parking lot all through the night, casting their light in remembrance, continuing to spread comfort and joy to all who passed by. The evening illuminated in a beautiful and very meaningful way what Webster Comfort Care Home means to our community.
These are pictures from the “reunion” between the mother and one of our nurses, Regina (in the black top).
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Thank you so much for this, Missy. You truly captured the feeling of the evening. We appreciate your support!
My pleasure, my friend.