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This Thursday, November 21st, the Avonworth Key Club will be hosting the Lopes Light Up For Hope event in honor of Children’s Grief Awareness Day. From 6:00 to 7:30 PM on Thursday, Lenzner Field will be open to the Avonworth community to come out and support each other. Seniors Julianne Knable and Myla Azen chose to run the event this year, as a part of their senior project.
Azen told the Journalism 1 students that she and Knable had discussed running the event with Ms. Weyant last year, as they’ve developed a passion for it after volunteering through Key Club during their high school years. Azen stated that she and Knable went with Mr. Como and Ms. Weyant to The Caring Place, which is a local organization that creates a community for those who have lost loved ones close to them, and began planning the event from there. Azen also noted that she now has a closer emotional connection to the event, having lost a close family member over the summer.
The seniors are determined to increase advertising and attendance this year. With middle-school teacher and strong Children’s Grief Awareness Day supporter, Ms. Potter-Paradise out on maternity leave, Azen and Knable have had to work even harder to get the word out to the middle school. They chose to enlist Ms. Campedel to spread the word and encourage Builder’s Club members to attend. Students may have also noticed posters around the school advertising the event, as well as acknowledgments in the morning announcements and our own Avonews Instagram account. Azen hopes that if more people know about it, more people will want to attend. The event has also been advertised to Key Club and National Honors Society members, who can receive volunteer hours for working at or attending the event.
The events of the evening have been expanded as well. The Lopes Light Up For Hope event will continue to feature the luminary walk from years past, and families can purchase a luminary in advance, or on the evening of the event. Along with this, Azen and Knable have added face-painting, bracelet-making, and concessions, in an effort to encourage attendance.
Azen emphasized that the tradition of wearing blue in support of Children’s Grief Awareness Day will continue.
