Light Up a Life: Hospice Halifax to honour late loved ones this holiday season

SPONSORED: The folks from Hospice Halifax share how their upcoming Light Up a Life event will honour those we've lost.

Hospice Halifax will host a special event over the holiday season to honour the lives of late loved ones.

Light Up a Life features people’s names and photos projected on Hospice Halifax’s community wall.

The projection will begin with an opening night gathering on Dec. 13.

“The event starts at dusk and we’ll have Atlantic Digital Reproductions putting a beautiful display as part of the lights that come up and Java Blend will be providing hot beverages, so we’re very grateful for the partnerships and the support that we have in the community that help make our work, work,” says Emily Mansour-Hemlow, Hospice Halifax’s director of philanthropy.

“I really love this event, because it does give that space for those who are missing their people, missing their loved ones, to have that community to come to and to remember those they loved.”

The projection will continue every night from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. until Dec. 21.

The Delo family are among those taking part in the annual event.

Janet Delo lost her husband Brian to cancer in 2022 and he received end-of-life care at Hospice Halifax.

She says her family didn’t think they would initially get much time with him after his diagnosis.

“He defied the odds because he was so mentally strong at that point and we went through chemo, radiation, surgery, whatever, for six years,” she says.

“It took me a long, long time to come to grips with that, but I’m happy that in the end it was as positive an experience I guess one would call it, as could possibly be, I was very lucky, our family was very lucky, to find a place like Hospice, that just was everything for us.”

Janet and Brian shared two daughters, Jennifer and Heather.

“He always said his children came first. And at first I resented that, thinking, ‘Wait a minute!’ But I know, I understand where that came from because for me, now, I feel the same way. My children are everything. And without your children, and your family, it’s pretty hard to deal with stuff,” Janet said.

Heather says Hospice Halifax made her dad feel it was “OK to go.”

“It gave him permission, and it was a safe place, and he was treated with so much respect. And when you walked in, you don’t feel like you’re in a hospital, you feel like you’re in someone’s house. And he was welcomed like family,” she says.

Heather adds her dad loved Christmas and her family had plenty of traditions, and now the projection is simply a new one.

“When he passed away it sort of seemed like a new tradition to start. It kind of kicks off our holiday and it makes him part of that,” she said.

“It’s a beautiful evening, and a hard evening, all at once, but everyone’s there for the same purpose, and it’s actually joyful in a way. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s just a nice way to start the season with him on the screen.”

Hospice Halifax is asking people to submit their dedications for this year’s Light Up a Life by Sunday, Dec. 7.

“Grief doesn’t really have a calendar,” Mansour-Hemlow says. “So we make sure that at Hospice Halifax we have a space for the community, for folks to come to Hospice and remember those that they’ve lost.”

With files from CTV Atlantic’s James Morrison.

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