The Santa Clarita Chapter of Compassionate Friends invites the public to participate in an evening of remembrance, reflection and healing on August 2 at Real Life Church in Valencia.

Featured at the free gathering, themed “Angels Across America” will be singer/songwriter Alan Pedersen, who is a bereaved father, recording artist and nationally-recognized speaker on grief and loss.

In August of 2001, Pedersen’s only daughter, Ashley was killed in an automobile accident in Colorado. The tragedy took his life in a direction he never imagined and his pain and journey toward finding joy again are the subject of his four CD’s.

As a speaker and workshop presenter, Pedersen has been featured at many international, national and regional conferences, including the World Gathering on Bereavement, the Compassionate Friends National Conference and the National Gathering of Bereaved Parents of the USA.

His music is popular with bereaved people around the world and is used at hundreds of candle lighting services, balloon and butterfly releases and by hundreds of professionals and organizations as a healing tool for the bereaved.

His message is simple: “We were put on this earth to love them for as long as we live, not for as long as they lived.” He believes that healing comes slow, but does come as we reach out to others who share this journey and offer a hand to help.

The public is invited to share this evening of music, hope and healing at the free concert (not suitable for young children).

The concert will begin at 7 p.m. at Real Life Church, 23841 Newhall Ranch Road in Valencia. For more details, contact Alice Renolds at 661-252-4374 or Diane Briones at 661-373-5070.