Raleigh to shine during nationwide COVID memorial Tuesday. How you can participate.

This story was updated Jan. 19, 2021, to note additional memorial locations.

Buildings throughout downtown Raleigh will glow amber in remembrance of those who have lost their lives to COVID-19.

The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday as part of a nationwide memorial organized by the National League of Cities. In Washington, D.C., a ceremony will feature a lighting around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Residents may join the event from home by lighting candles or putting a small light in a window, and taking time to pray, meditate or reflect.

In a statement Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said she was “honored to have our city join with others in this show of national unity and support for individuals and families who continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Since the virus was first identified in the state last March, nearly 8,000 North Carolina residents have died from the coronavirus.

“COVID has taken so much, and so many dear ones from us,” Baldwin said. “Honoring those whom we have lost to this terrible disease is a way to bring communities together.”

The amber lights of the memorial will shine at various spots throughout the city, including Raleigh’s Shimmer Wall on the side of the Raleigh Convention Center, the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, the Fayetteville Street Towers, and the Raleigh Municipal Building.

Churches throughout the city — including the Community United Church of Christ, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and West Raleigh Presbyterian Church — will light candles along the street.

Businesses and houses of worship are also invited to participate in the memorial through displays of lights and moments of prayer.

Groups interested in registering as part of the official memorial should fill out a form at bit.ly/2XFdS71.

In Durham, Duke University will join in the memorial, with 400 luminaries lit in its chapel memorial garden — one for each thousand people killed by the coronavirus.

“We have become so used to reading grim statistics during this pandemic, but for so many people what stands out is not a cumulative number but a specific, beloved person,” the Rev. Luke A. Powery, dean of the Duke University Chapel, said in a statement. “Every number represents a unique and precious human being — who is gone and dearly missed.”

Bells and music will accompany the lights in honoring the lives lost.

This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 3:12 PM.