9th – 15th October
Baby Loss Awareness Week provides the opportunity for parents and whānau around New Zealand to come together and remember the lives of their babies who have died. We acknowledge the lives and deaths of all babies, no matter what their gestation, length of life or how they died.
It is also a chance to highlight the work done by Sands around New Zealand. The aims for the week are:
- To promote 15th October as International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.
- To promote the Annual Global Wave of Light and other events or services where parents can publicly acknowledge their babies.
- To raise awareness and increase understanding of the impact of baby loss amongst the wider community.
- To invite all Sands parents, whānau and friends to our Annual Remembrance Day and other events. See event details below.
Annual Remembrance Day
Our family friendly event is an opportunity during Baby Loss Awareness week, to meet with other bereaved parents and family members, to honour our babies, tie a ribbon on our remembrance heart and be together on this special day. We will post details of the event (date/time and venue) in September each year. If you would like to be on the mailing list for our next event, please contact us at:
Email: info@sandsauckland.org.nz
In 2023 we were delighted to work in conjunction with the staff at Holy Trinity Cathedral to provide a new event for our Annual Remembrance Day.
Holy Trinity Cathedral have been great supporters for the last 3 years of the Sands NZ Light Up Aotearoa campaign; lighting up the cathedral on 15th October for the Global Wave of Light. To further support Sands and bereaved whānau, Reverend Ivica Gregurec kindly offered to host a remembrance service and we thought it would be lovely to incorporate this into our Annual Remembrance Day and lead into Baby Loss Awareness week with a beautiful service.
The service was absolutely lovely and well attended. It was wonderful to see families we had not seen for a while, and also to be able to welcome newly bereaved parents. Thank you to the amazing volunteers from Good Bitches baking who kindly provided us with some yummy treats and also to Reverend Ivica Gregurec and Celebrant Helen Rutledge who lead our beautiful service.
Global Wave of Light – Sunday 15th October
International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is recognised across the world, where families gather and take part in the Global Wave of Light from home or at organised services. This involves lighting a candle at 7pm to burn for 1 hour in memory of all the babies who lit up our lives for such a short time. We begin the wave of light in Aotearoa, setting off a continuous wave of light and aroha that wraps around the globe.
We encouraged everybody to join in from the comfort of your own home or to attend one of our organised events; either the Sands NZ Online Global Wave of Light Service, or the Candle Lighting Ceremony in Silverdale hosted by celebrants Helen Rutledge and Kelly Townsend.
Light Up Aotearoa
For the past few years, Sands NZ has organised for landmarks across Aotearoa to be lit up in blue, pink and purple for Baby Loss Awareness Week. A list of participating landmarks will be posted in the weeks before Baby Loss Awareness Week.
