Highmark Caring Place Hosts Night of Remembrance

  DECEMBER 18, 2012- The Newtown Connecticut tragedy is still weighing heavily on the hearts of many.  Tonight a support organization honored the victims of that tragedy as well as those who have lost loved ones over the years here in Erie.

    Highmark Caring Place's night of remembrance began with a moment of silence....  Silence to remember those 20 innocent children and 6 women taken in the Newtown, ConnecticutSandy Hook Elementary school shooting...

"Just awful to hear it... Like that people can do that type of thing to others for just no real reason," Says Brandon Jude, a member of the Highmark Caring Place.

"I just think we need to hug each other and talk to each other and know they have people that love them there," Says Jennifer Jude a member of the Highmark Caring Place.

    Following the moment of silence, families from across the county used the night to remember loved ones who have passed on... through a candle light vigil....

"Lighting candle is a ritual to say you still remember them... especially this holiday season," says Nina Ferraro, Manager of the Highmark Caring Place.

    Families used the vigil to show that their loved ones may have passed on but they are not forgotten.

"It's really helped our family accept and maybe understand people going through it as well," says Jennifer Jude.

    Nina Ferraro of Highmark Caring Place also used that vigil to memorialize and remember the Sandy HookElementary School victims....

"My heart goes out to them and their giving families and grieving children there. It's very tragic," says Ferraro.

    Families we spoke with say without Highmark Caring Place they wouldn't be where they are today and it allowed them to feel again...

"Caring place was really a way to escape from it all and a good way to see there are other families like me," says Jude.