STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Hospice & Palliative Care of the Wood River Valley is inviting community members to share the spirit of the holiday season by helping to illuminate the organization’s Memorial Tree.

A donation of $10 or more will light a bulb in memory of a special person, and that bulb will shine with warmth, love and caring, said Lisa Wild, executive director of Hospice.

“Your loved one’s name will be inscribed in our Memory Book for 2020 and their name will be read when we dedicate this tree to those who will always be eternal lights in our lives, in our hearts and in our memories,” she said.

The Dedication Ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7, at the big spruce tree in Ketchum. Because of COVID restrictions, the service will be closed to the public. But people will be able to watch the event in real time at https://hpcwrv.org. Viewers will also be able to watch the ceremony afterwards through a link on the website.

The Memory book of names will also be accessible on the website.

“I think in this day and time when we are so separated from our loved ones due to the coronavirus, it is important to alert people to opportunities that allow us to collectively come together and remember the lives of individuals we have lost,” said Wild. “I think this provides an opportunity for that to be done in a safe way, during a time when celebration of life services and funerals have been put on hold due to the inability to socially gather.”