106 E Lane Street
Raleigh, NC
The North Carolina Victim Assistance Network (NCVAN) is the only statewide nonprofit that provides direct services and advocates for loved ones of homicide victims and others harmed by violent crime in North Carolina. NCVAN hosts an annual National Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month Candlelight Vigil.
This year, NCVAN will host it on December 14, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. at its Crime Victims' Memorial Garden in downtown Raleigh. The garden is constructed of bricks with names of homicide victims that line a path and that families requested at no cost to them. For the vigil, loved ones of homicide victims personalize luminaries that will border the garden.
NCVAN will also have a table for loved ones to create a luminary if they have not attended before. NCVAN stores and sets them out each year. NCVAN has a survivor speaker and a "we remember" group participation portion of the ceremony where they share the mic to allow loved ones to speak the name of the person taken by violence.