Dealing with the loss of a loved one is never an easy feat, and grieving can be especially difficult during the holiday season.

For the second year, the Cochrane and Area Hospice Society is encouraging grieving members of the community to honour a lost loved one, by replacing a white light on the Remembrance Tree with a coloured one in their memory.

Organizer and Secretary of the Cochrane and Area Hospice Society, Sandra Scott says that in wake of COVID-19, this year they will be doing things differently.

"This year we can't get together but we really wanted to make sure that we were still engaged and allowing people to do something in remembrance of someone that they may have lost," says Scott. "So, we are doing it all virtually. We will go and put the light on for them, I'm actually taking a picture of the light and then I'll email it back to them with a little graphic showing them we put the light on for their loved one."

Scott says that although there won't be a formal gathering at this time, Cochranites can still arrange for a coloured light to shine throughout all of December in memory of a lost loved one, and their name will still be added to the Remembrance Book. 

"We're still going to put their loved one's name in our Remembrance Memory Book," says Scott. "Then next year we'll have an extra special ceremony and will read out everybody's names from this year and next year."

The Remembrance tree has already been put up outside of the Historic Cochrane Ranche Site Clubhouse. Scott says that this year they aren't asking for donations, and just want to do something to help Cochranites dealing with loss this holiday season.

Scott says that you can choose the colour of the bulb you'd like in honour of your loved one.

"We have green and blue and red and yellow, so the typical lights," says Scott. "I have a lovely lady that emailed me today and she's Irish so she would like to have a green light to remember her loved one. So we'll put that colour on because we're changing them from white to colour."

If you would like a light on the Remembrance Tree to remember someone you have lost, you can contact the Cochrane Hospice Society here.