Ideas for Planning and Implementing a Community Candlelight Vigil

Official National Theme: “Justice for Victims. Justice for All”

Colors: Purple and olive green

Purpose: Oregon Communities honoring victims and those who have contributed significantly to victims’ lives.

The following are ideas for planning and implementing a candlelight vigil in your community. These ideas are for general planning and may not be appropriate in each community. It will be up to you to create a vigil that fits your community.

Coordinator and Steering Committee

Bring a team together, to help split the work load. Individuals on this team may be any or all of the following: Public officials, Law enforcement, businesses, the Chamber of Commerce, schools, public agencies, medical professionals, faith community, civic organizations, etc.

The work needed to prepare the vigil should be shared. However, it is always a good idea to select a coordinator that can serve as a chair and an organization that is ultimately responsible for unfinished tasks.

April is also Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Awareness. There may be many activities being planned around all of these events. Coordination and collaboration is a great way to maximize resources and early planning will be important.

Steering Committee Tasks

  A speaker coordinator and subcommittee should be in charge of reserving a location (including filling out necessary paper work for permits), and contacting speakers.

  Publicity coordinator and subcommittee should be in charge of advertising the event, including making and hanging posters, contacting local media to cover the event, and other organizations.

  A logistics coordinator and subcommittee should be in charge of any supplies, i.e. transporting and setting up sound equipment, any drinks, or food.

MATERIALS

CVAS will be sending out to all Counties indicating they will be participating in the Statewide Candlelight Vigil a limited number of posters and wrist bands as supplies allow.

Ideally the project should be sponsored by a consortium of local businesses or organizations that can all contribute a small amount of money for expenses. Expenses may include the following. Some or all of this could be donated:

·  Battery powered PA system rental

·  Candles (Estimated cost are included under the Candle section below), and flashlights

·  Advertising, copying costs.

·  Permits for demonstrations (yes please check to see if you need one)

·  Food or refreshments.

Many local establishments, particularly vendors with whom you have an existing relationship, would be happy to donate graphics and printing services, or provide supplies at cost. Or local community or faith based centers may be willing to help photocopy and distribute materials. Your community can unite in as many ways as your creativity allows to help raise public awareness about crime victims’ rights.

THE SUBCOMMITTEES

Speaker and Location Coordinator and Subcommittee
The idea of this is to coordinate the time and date with Counties across Oregon which has been set for either April 16th or 17th (Actual date will be sent out next week) beginning around 6:30 pm.

·  Actual sunset on those days will be around 8:00 pm.

Secure a location for the event to take place. Your site may be:

·  A park area that contains a large amount of traffic in the evening.

·  City hall, courthouse or another similar building.

·  A memorial or statue of significance to the underserved. Look for sites that can provide the following:

·  A rain location.

·  High visibility to the public.

·  Something visually attractive for the media to shoot.

·  Easy accessibility and sufficient parking.

A site will probably have to be reserved.

Select speaker(s). Look for one or two speakers that will help attract a large audience. However, if you try and book a political figure or a well known community individual remember that they are usually very busy, and often have multiple appointments. Don’t let the success of your event ride on their appearance. Adjust your schedule to maximize the number of attendees, rather than a well known community speaker. If you have a large turn out, the event will be a much bigger success than if you have a well known community member speak. Political figures can almost always supply a staff member to read something on their behalf. Try and keep your speaker list diverse. Ideas for speakers include:

·  A representative with a strong record on victim rights.

·  A Public service official

·  A Director of a non profit dedicated to victim services

·  A Victim who wishes to speak about their experience.

Try getting in touch with speakers as soon as possible. Most speakers will want to know right away where and when they will be speaking. A sample letter to request an individual to speak is below.

Date
Dear Mayor,
On behalf of name Vigil Sponsors here______, it is our pleasure to invite you to speak at the Crime Victims’ Rights Week name County/city here Candlelight Vigil. The event will take place on Day April Date at Time p.m., at name and address of location.
Our community candlelight vigil is just one of many being held across Oregon on the same evening, at the same time with the idea of a igniting a uniform voice honoring and seeking justice for victims. I have enclosed a copy of our flyer promoting the event. We expect many members from the community to participate in the vigil.
This year’s theme, “Justice for Victims. Justice for All.,” evokes the ideals that support our system of justice and inspire our nation’s quest for equity. It declares that justice for all cannot be achieved without justice for victims of crime. This week serves to remind us all that crime can strike anytime and we are all vulnerable.
We greatly appreciate your consideration of this request to speak at this years’ Crime Victims’ Rights Week activity. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,

Logistics Coordinator and Subcommittee
This Committee will help acquire supplies, deliver, and setup for the vigil.

PA Systems
Try to avoid handheld systems. They are rarely clear. Get at least a 50 watt system. ALWAYS test the system BEFORE leaving the rental store. Talk with your speaker coordinator to find out if the vigil location has access to electricity. If it is available, get permission to use it, and make sure that it will be turned on during the vigil. If electricity is not available, you will have to either rent a battery powered PA system, or rent a small generator.

·  The Expensive Way
Rental stores will usually have some type of PA system. PA system costs will vary from $80 - $300 for a small system, so shop around. Reserve the system as soon as possible, especially if there is no deposit.

·  The Cheap Way
Find a friend that has the right equipment. Contact a local union, faith group, or another organization that may be able to lend you their equipment. Always test the equipment well before the event.

Candles
There are many on-line sites that provide both the candles and paper bobeche (to catch melting watch). Example costs and suppliers are:

Company / Quantity / Bobeche / Candles / Shipping
Wax Wizard / 100 / $15.00 / 60x6 (discounted) / $24.00
www.candle4less.com / 100 / $5.95 / 60 / $24.95 / Free
Crafts, ETC! / 24 (kit) / -- / 24 (kit) / $8.99

You can see that there are a variety of prices. Going through local businesses, you might be able to secure a discount or they might make them available at costs or make a donation to the event.

You probably want to avoid specialty-shop aroma therapy candles. Religious supply shops sell bulk candles at a fairly cheap rate. 6"-8" candles with cardboard drip guards should be sufficient. Check the yellow pages for candle shops that supply bulk candles, or look under religious supplies. If the store allows returns on unopened boxes, you may want to buy an extra box.

Food
It is usually a good idea to avoid bringing large amounts of food, or to avoid bringing food entirely if possible. Food can significantly bring up costs. Coffee, or hot chocolate should be sufficient. If the weather looks like it will be cold, it would be a good idea to advertise that hot drinks will be served. Your school or a faith group may have a portable coffee dispenser that you could borrow. You can also visit local coffee shops to see if they would be willing to donate coffee. Always remember to bring trash bags to help clean up.

Publicity Coordinator and Subcommittee
This Committee may want to take on designing materials to promote the event and to distribute them to all interested organizations/agencies. The goal is to focus towards having as many people as possible see information about this event as many times as possible.

The Crime Victims Compliance Project www.CrimeVictimsRights.org will have a link on their page to a calendar of statewide events. To get information on this calendar you can send your event information directly to Karen Heywood at

Camera-ready artwork is available for free download in the 2008 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Resource Guide at www.ovc.gov/ncvrw/2008/welcome.html. The artwork includes: posters, logos, buttons and magnets, bookmarks, name tags and table cards, letterhead, certificate of appreciation, crime clock and a variety of public awareness posters.

You may want to design a flyer to be distributed within your community. This can be a Save the Date email with flyer attached. Keep it as simple as possible and try to develop the flyer as soon as possible. Include the following information:

·  The Candlelight vigil sponsors;

·  A list of speakers and their titles. If speakers have not confirmed yet, write (invited) next to their name.

·  The location of the vigil. Use a street address, and a descriptive address identifying a known landmark.

·  Your contact information, i.e. telephone number, or e-mail.

Create a distribution list for flyers and save the date emails.

The vigil flyer can then be made into a large poster to be distributed and placed throughout the community. Make sure that your sign is easy to read from a distance; otherwise it will not produce the results you are looking for. Include a brief title describing the event, the location and the speakers, in VERY large font. Include a "for more information contact:" and your telephone number or e-mail.

Visit and advertise in as many sites as possible when regulations allow. Try to target high traffic areas, such as by entrances to large rooms, bulletin boards or a busy hallway.

Target sites include:

·  The vigil site;

·  Community businesses, supermarket bulletin boards, etc.;

·  College campus, high schools;

·  health related offices, i.e. department of public health, social work institutions;

·  churches and other faith groups.

Contact your local newspaper, and ask how much ads cost, or if they would be willing to donate space, or if they could cover your event. If this is considered a public service announcement there may be no cost. Contact local radio stations, and ask them if they can plug your event on the air.

2008 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Resource Guide includes a section on “Working with the Media” It includes a sample press release as well as 15, 30 and 60 second public service announcements and more.

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