The 38th Annual “Trees of Life” ceremony took place Saturday, November 12 at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.
Attended by more than 200 people, the event raised approximately $100,000 for the Pikes Peak Hospice Foundation for the support of community-based hospice, palliative and bereavement care services.
Andy Petersen, Executive Director of the Pikes Peak Hospice Foundation stated, “This is one of our opportunities for people to actually support, financially, the foundation. The foundation supports the operation side, and we have ornaments that people can purchase at the event, or online. We encourage people to purchase those in honor of a lost loved one and hang them on their tree. This year they can also have the name of a loved one engraved on the ornament as well, so it’s just an opportunity to support the work that our care teams provide families every day.”
The crowd gathered on the museum’s south lawn to honor loved ones as their names were read aloud before the tree lighting. The trees were lit up in red, white, and blue in honor of first responders and military veterans.
“It’s a healing event. I think people leave this event feeling connected and supported and like they’re not alone. And that’s so important – as you go through the grieving process. Every experience of grief is very unique to the person who is experiencing that loss, because their relationship with the person they lost is unique,” explained Dawn Darvalics, President of Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care.
Ornaments from this year’s Trees of Life event are still available for purchase and proceeds from the sale of ornaments will directly support hospice, palliative and bereavement care services provided by Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care.
For more information and to purchase an ornament, please visit www.pikespeakhospice.org/treesoflife/
To watch the local news coverage of the event please visit:
www.fox21news.com/news/38th-annual-trees-of-life-honors-memory-of-loved-ones/
www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/38th-annual-trees-of-life-ceremony-took-place-saturday-evening