To light a candle in the darkness is generally thought of as a way to dispel fear.

During the Unity for Freedom Candlelight vigil at 6 p.m. Oct. 29 in the parking lot of the hospital of Sharon Regional Health System, the SRHS Employee Development Fund committee will use luminaries to lighten the load for those feeling fearful since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

"We're hoping to create a spiritual environment for people in the community experiencing anxiousness," said Dennis Rubano of Brookfield, and co-chairman of the committee. He is also the manager of the hospital's speech pathology and audiology department.

"We feel our employees are a visible and big component of this community, and this is a way we can help," he said.

Representatives from local fire and police departments, the American Red Cross, and speakers from various faiths, including Christian, Jewish, and Muslim, will attend.

Other speakers include Sharon Mayor Robert T. Price and former Pittsburgh Steeler Jon Kolb, an exercise physiologist for the hospital. Singers from several church choirs and soloists will take part.

Money raised from the purchase of the $2 luminaries will go toward the Keystone Chapter of American Red Cross in Somerset County, where one of the hijacked planes crashed on Sept. 11.

Names of loved ones can be put on the luminary bags.

The hospital employee committee promotes various fund-raising events to give employees a way to help the hospital and people in need.

"We buy equipment for various areas of the hospital and donate to various causes in the community" such as Prince of Peace Center in Farrell; Minority Health Advocacy Committee, which is affiliated with the hospital; and hospice, Rubano said, adding the committee also has held food drives.

The decision to light up the night Oct. 29 came from a suggestion by committee member Phyllis Madasz of Mercer, an employee of the speech pathology department.

"I just felt it (the events of Sept. 11) was devastating across the country. We need to come together as a community visually and spiritually," she said. "There are lots of times we have no control. We have to lift it up. Prayer is the only way we can do that."