In 1985 a group of hospital volunteers in Columbus learned about a special program to remember and honor loved ones through a monetary donation used to place lights on evergreen trees. On Sunday, Dec. 15 at 4:30 p.m., the Volunteers of Prairie Ridge Health will mark the Lights of Love 40th Anniversary at the main entrance of Prairie Ridge Health, 1515 Park Avenue in Columbus, where three trees will be illuminated during a special ceremony open to the public.
“There is nothing else like the Lights of Love that calls attention to those who mean a lot to you,” said Marilyn Koshel, one of three volunteers who started the Lights of Love on the Columbus hospital campus.
The memorial and honorarium program provides community members an opportunity to remember those they have lost or to show appreciation for family and friends through the purchase of a light in their memory or honor. White lights represent those being remembered and colored lights represent those being honored. Blue lights honor members of the United States Military, or a loved one living overseas.
Names submitted in remembrance or appreciation are then printed in a public listing. “Each year you look at that list and you read the names and you remember not only those you have lost, but you share in remembering others, keeping them alive in your memory,” said Koshel.
Fellow volunteers Koshel (who was the hospital’s volunteer and community relations coordinator), Rachel Ehlenfeldt, and Joanne Barrix, learned of the program at a district volunteer meeting in 1985 and brought the idea back to the volunteer group. “We had just heard about the idea for the program that October, put it together quickly to hold the tree lighting ceremony the second week in December and look at how long it has been going,” said Koshel.
Koshel recruited the Columbus Rotary Club, of which her husband Tony was a member, to decorate two live evergreen trees on the hospital’s lawn and the tradition continued. In 1999, Koshel retired from the hospital, passing the torch to Patti Walker, the hospital’s community relations coordinator. “At the time I had no idea an event like this could have such an impact on a community,” said Walker. “Now 25 years later, I’m honored to sit on the Lights of Love committee as a volunteer with Marilyn and continue the event’s success.”
Over the past 40 years, the Lights of Love Program has generated about $200,000. Funds from the event support the hospital’s Lifeline Program (which began in 1984) and the PRH Hunger Care food distribution program (since 2021). Lifeline is a home emergency response system used by residents in the hospital’s service area. Lifeline enables elderly, handicapped or medically-fragile persons to live independently, while assuring them that if they need help quickly, it will be available to them at the press of a button. Koshel read about the Lifeline Program in a magazine and brought the idea to the hospital, but she needed funding to get it started. The Columbus Rotary, as well as other local service clubs, donated the funds to get the program going. After that, funding from the Lights of Love ensured that the program would remain in place for community members.
The PRH Hunger Care Program provides heart healthy and diabetes friendly food to food insecure individuals in the hospital’s service area. Eligible recipients are screened for food insecurity, diabetes, and heart health conditions. The Lights of Love donations have enabled the program to increase the number of individuals served.
This year, Koshel and Walker are passing on the event to Nicole Schaefer, Prairie Ridge Health Volunteer and Foundation Events Coordinator. “I’m excited to be a part of the event and look forward to continuing this important tradition for many years to come,” said Schaefer.
Through the years the Lights of Love has seen many variations including church choirs, Clydesdale horses and sleighs, Santa visits, candle lighting ceremonies, organists, bell choirs, high school brass ensembles, poems of remembrance, and ornament decorating, but there are a few things that have remained constant – the playing of Silent Night, the lighting of the trees, a moment of silence in remembrance of loved ones, and fresh baked cookies from the volunteers following the ceremony.
“The traditions put in place by our volunteers so many years ago are what have kept this event strong,” said Walker. “We hope that the community will join us on December 15 to remember, appreciate, honor and celebrate.”
The Gleewud String Quartet will provide music prior to, during and following this year’s ceremony. A special thanks to Lyco Manufacturing for donating the commemorative tree rings that will be placed around the trees. A limited number of commemorative LED candles will be available for purchase at the event.
If you would like to contribute to this year’s Lights of Love, mail your donation and list of names in memory or honor of to: Lights of Love, c/o Prairie Ridge Health, 1515 Park Avenue, Columbus, WI 53925. A minimum gift of $5.00 per light per person is appreciated. Checks should be made payable to the Vol of PRH Lights of Love. Donations will be accepted through Jan. 15, 2025. A printed listing of those being honored and remembered will be distributed through local print media and available for pickup at Prairie Ridge Health Hospital and Clinics in Columbus, Beaver Dam, Marshall, and Sun Prairie
Donation forms are available by visiting www.PrairieRidge.Health or calling 920-623-1371. The event will also be available for viewing via the hospital’s Facebook page.
