Maimonides Health hosts Celebration of Light to support churches with Christmas tree memorials

December 5, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Participating clergy and leaders from Maimonides Health in this year’s Celebration of Light. Photo courtesy of Maimonides Health

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BOROUGH PARK — MAIMONIDES HEALTH this week hosted its annual Celebration of Light, which brings together hospital leaders with leaders from Brooklyn churches, including two newly-participating parishes and other churches parishes within the Diocese of Brooklyn. The Celebration of Light is held each year to provide support for local churches in their fundraising efforts and tree lighting ceremonies. Each Christmas season, churches host tree lighting ceremonies, with financial support from Maimonides, in which parishioners dedicate Christmas trees to lost loved ones. Established in 1995, the Celebration of Light began with a donation to Visitation Monastery in Bay Ridge to help decorate their grounds for the Christmas season. Since then, the initiative has welcomed new parishes every year, with 46 churches currently participating. Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Red Hook and the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights are new to the initiative this year. The goal of this annual tradition is to build connections that benefit the work of the hospital and the wider communities Maimonides serves.

Ken Gibbs, CEO and president of Maimonides Health, said, “We are grateful that this event is growing each year, with new faith organizations joining us in driving forward our mission to provide healing for our community.

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