Nash UNC Health Care Auxiliary Hosts Annual Lights of Love Ceremony to Recognize Loved Ones

ROCKY MOUNT, North Carolina- Lights of Love is an annual tradition encouraging local citizens to honor or remember their special loved ones by sponsoring lights on the trees displayed on the Nash UNC Health Care campus during the holiday season.

In addition to sponsoring a light on one of the trees, a $5 donation also places the special person’s name in the 2018 Book of Honor/Remembrance, which is read aloud during the tree lighting ceremony.

The ceremony will be held on Tuesday, December 4, at 6:00 pm in the gift shop lobby, and will include the official tree lighting, reading aloud the names from the Book of Honor/Remembrance, carols from the Lakeside Baptist Church Children’s Choir, and light refreshments. Trees are on display in the main hospital lobby and gift shop area throughout the holiday season.

The late Jackie Ward, who volunteered 18,000 service hours over a 42-year span, is credited with starting Lights of Love in 2003. Since that time, Lights of Love has served as a tool for the Nash UNC Health Care Auxiliary to raise money, helping them to make a $25,000 donation to Nash Emergency Department Pediatrics, donations to Nash Women’s Center, the Danny Talbott Cancer Center, and numerous other projects.

Ashley Holland, a Red Oak, NC resident, said, “It means a lot to me when I ride by the hospital and see the lighted tree on top of the building, knowing that four of those lights represent my grandparents, only one of whom is still living.”

Names of loved ones and donations should be submitted before Wednesday, November 28 by contacting Marian Haney at 252-443-9592 and leaving a voicemail, or visiting the Nash UNC Hospitality Office.