My RFL event sounds very similar, small town.  Last year was my first year as Luminaria Chair and I changed a few things. We had over 800 luminarias and every donation had a candle but I read each name only once.  It made the ceremony move more quickly.  I read a poem, played 3 songs and read the names.  The whole ceremony took about 50 minutes. 

I do have a question- last year I found a luminaria script that involved a table, chair, lamp/light, lemon, salt but decided to use something different.  I can't find the script now.   Can someone tell me where to find it?

People are donating money to our cause for each luminaria that is requested and it is important to honor that request. It is not a popularity contest if people are showing their love and respect through this event.  Many times you will have a ton of luminaria for someone when they are quite sick or have recently passed away so that is how people do some grieving.

If it seems you are making tons of luminaria make sure to get help from others. You will have a great time talking while you work and the luminaria will have varied styles and designs because of the different people doing it.

Have fun!

This is my second year as event chair and last year I also chaired the luminaria committee (It was our first year and we didn't have many committee volunteers).  We had a similar situation.  There were two individuals who were very well liked and respected by the community, one a high school teacher and the other a student's mother.  One was in honor and the other in memory.  The husband of the woman who had passed away donated $1,000 for luminaria.  How could we accept the donation but not honor her the way he wished?  The students at the h.s. raised about the same amount for their teacher. 

We light bags spelling our the word HOPE in the bleachers during our ceremony, so we decided to use the bags purchased for these two individuals for that purpose.  Of course, there were some left over and they went around the track.  At the ceremony, we announced what we had done.  Everyone seemed to be pleased.  Note:  for the corresponding slide show we run during the ceremony we create only one slide per name.

I agree with the previous poster.  If someone donates money for a luminaria, we should honor that request, regardless of how many someone receives.  Sometimes, we just may have to find alternative display methods to make it less obvious.  This year, we will line the walkway down to our relay with those bags.

Heyy Heidi,

  This is a bit of a sticky situation. My suggestion would be to honor every submission. This way your honoring everyone's memory, and everyone's memory of this person. Consider it a blessing that all these people care about this person. Another thing you could do, since you mentioned about the one specific teenage girl, would to be do something special just in her memory, like a special lap just for her, or one hour that, any money collected could go to her foundation/cause/research for her type of cancer. If you have any questions, just let me know. I hope it all works out.

    ~Cate~