Baystate to Hold Service April 3 for Families Who Have Lost a Child

SPRINGFIELD — Baystate Children’s Hospital will hold its annual Service of Remembrance on Sunday, April 3, for area families who have experienced the death of a child over the past year.

All family member and friends are invited to attend the event, which will be held at 1 p.m. at Baystate Medical Center’s Chestnut Conference Center on 759 Chestnut St., Springfield. It is also open to families with losses prior to 2015.

Baystate Children’s Hospital staff will be in attendance at the event to remember and pay tribute to the children and families who were under their care.

Families are asked to respond by March 23 with the number of adults and children planning to attend the event, as well as their child’s name, if they would like it to be read aloud during the service. Families with earlier losses are simply asked to call and register. To respond, call Deborah Levine at (413) 794-3283.

“We hope that the Service of Remembrance and the reception that follows will provide an opportunity for a special group of families to come together to remember and honor their children,” said Marjorie Bloom, co-chair of the event’s planning committee.

The special service will include readings, music, and a ceremony of light. Families can share a photograph or other memento of their child on a ‘Table of Memories’ at the event. They may also choose to have their child’s name read aloud during the Memorial Service, regardless of whether they can attend the event.

As part of the service, families will be given a piece of fabric which they can personalize in memory of their child before it is added, along with others, to create a memory quilt. The new quilt will be displayed on Oct. 1, along with 17 other quilts created in past years, at Baystate’s annual Memorial Quilt Exhibit.