Chris Lights

I got two flameless candles won't you join me?

Light a Small Light for a Big Reason     

In thousands of homes across the nation, a single light shining in a window has quickly become a universal symbol of love and support for the men and women in the US Military and our Allies deployed overseas to protect us and our country.

Put a light in your window and leave it shining night and day. No matter when our men and women in uniform come home, the lights will be on.

This is not a political issue. It is very simply about people who perform a job for us and letting them and their families know we are thinking of them.

Click on the links below to find out more about this project:
  How Did This Project Get Started?
  What You Can Do
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How Did This Project Get Started?

This project started in January, when our son Chris, a Lance Corporal in the US Marine Corps, left for the Middle East aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard. The day he left, we received an electric holiday candle with this note attached:

Once a Christmas light, now a Chris light. This candle is given to you by the neighborhood you have given so much to. We each have a candle just like this one. Starting tonight we will all put this light in our window and leave it on 24 hours a day until Chris returns home. The light it puts out is small, but the message is not. We are thinking of and praying for all of you, especially Chris. Please let him know that whenever he comes home, day or night, the lights will be on.

When we looked up, we saw the candle lights shining in the windows of each of our neighbors. These "Chris Lights" have continued to shine non-stop ever since-and will continue to do so until our son comes home.

But this isn't just about us. There are hundreds of thousands of men and women either on their way or already in the Middle East and other locations overseas.

Wouldn't it be incredible to support each and every one of them with a light in the window of every house, in every neighborhood, in every town across the country?

This is not a political issue. It is very simply about people who perform a job for us and letting them and their families know we are thinking of them

When we told our friends what our neighbors had done for us, they, too, put lights in their windows. From the original eight lights shining in our neighbourhood, there are now hundreds shining in our town and thousands shining across the country.

Stories of the "Chris Lights" have been featured on all of the major television stations in Boston, on National Public Radio and in major newspapers, including The Boston Globe and our local Needham Times.

We have received hundreds of phone calls, emails and letters from people across the country who have placed the small lights in their windows. We have also heard directly from military personnel around the world who say this gesture has meant so much to them in showing that we are united as a country in praying for the safe return of our troops, even if we remain divided in our political views.

It seems like such an easy thing to do, but it means so much to anyone who has a family member or friend overseas.

Help spread the news and spread the light.

What You Can Do

• First, put an electric candle or small light in your window and leave it shining 24 hours a day!
  
• Tell your family, friends and neighbors.
  
• Encourage your local hardware and home stores to stock electric candles, which are normally only sold during the holiday season.
  
• Contact your local television stations, newspapers and other media to encourage them to pick up the story.
  
• Click here to send us an email and share your story. If you want to hear the stories of other families and servicemen and women, let us know - we'll add you to our mailing list and send out a regular collection of messages we've received.

Nancy and Dan Wright
Needham, Massachusetts USA