The Unforgettables Foundation Hosts 16th Annual Lights for Little Lives Memorial Walk

By: Chaplin Tim Evans

Community Writer

Photo Courtesy of:

Chaplin Tim Evans

Photo Description:

The Unforgettables Foundation of Redlands will be gathering for a free event at the Ronald McDonald House on New Years Eve to remember children who have passed.

For the past 16 years The Unforgettables Foundation has helped the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley to close the year on an undeniably emphatic and caring note! Because leaders say that "every child is truly unforgettable in life or in death": and for almost a generation big crowds have shown their solidarity by gathering on a very busy day. Each New Year’s Eve since 2000, a large group, including parents and loved ones who have lost children in the past year or at any time during their lives, has gathered in the shadow of the Ronald McDonald House in Loma Linda to do the moving Lights for Little Lives Memorial March. Following late afternoon welcomes and the release of doves to commemorate the little ones who've left us, as the sun begins to set, the group starts the 3 block walk to historic Campus Hill SDA Church where candles are lit, the names of children spoken out loud to be kept alive by family members and a mass blessings from a pastor, a priest, and rabbi closes it. It's as much inspiring and uplifting as it is heart tugging. Hundreds attend yearly. This year’s Dove Release will be especially poignant since the family, which has for 15 years lovingly brought the doves as a donation to support grieving mothers and fathers in the crowd, are now themselves grieving their own sons murder in the recent San Bernardino terrorist attack-Robert Adams. The Unforgettables, starting as a grass roots cause with the compassionate mission of near daily assisting financially struggling families with funeral costs during the loss of their child, is now as a locally created cause helping around 300 calls a year, 5000+ in all in 15 years in SoCal, Southern Nevada, and Canada. Chapters are in the works in other areas of the country as well. This event is free of charge and family friendly. People gather at Ronald McDonald House at 3 p.m. and leave the Campus Hill Church following the walk and remembrance ceremony at 5:30 p.m. All are welcomed to participate regardless of race, religion or other diversities, Call The Unforgettables Foundation of Redlands at (909) 335-1600.