Light a candle

In Seattle and at least four other local communities, candles will be glowing at 7 p.m. Sunday in support of a national self-help support organization's efforts to aid families grieving after the death of a child.

The organization, known as The Compassionate Friends, has asked that communities around the globe light a candle for all children who have died. Sunday will be the organization's ninth annual Worldwide Candle Lighting.

In Seattle, a group known as Friends of Annie's Playground will host a brief vigil at 6:30 p.m. at Annie's Playground, next to Meadowbrook Playfield at 10533 35th Ave. N.E., before the candle lighting. People are invited to bring photos, poems or writings. Candles will be provided.

Similar gatherings, sponsored by other local groups, are scheduled on the Eastside at Bellevue's Sunset Hills Memorial Park Chapel, 1215 145th Place S.E., beginning at 6:30 p.m.; in Everett at the Everett First United Methodist Church chapel, 3530 Colby Ave., at 7 p.m.; at Everett's Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, 1615 S.E. Everett Mall Way, at 6:30 p.m.; and in Kent at First Christian Church of Kent, 11717 S.E. 240th St., at 6:30 p.m. Gatherings also are scheduled in Monroe and Bremerton. Information is available online at www.compassionatefriends.com.

Signs of the season

Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood will hold its community tree-lighting ceremony, with entertainment, refreshments and Santa's arrival in a vintage car, at 6 p.m. today at Wallingford Center, 1815 N. 45th St., hosted by the Wallingford Center Merchants Association.

Can you help?

Seattle's Goodwill Industries has issued an appeal for people to clean out their closets and donate good-quality recyclable clothes and other items by Dec. 31 in order to qualify for tax benefit on 2005 tax returns.

Donations to Goodwill are sold in Goodwill stores, and proceeds support the private nonprofit's job-training and education programs and services, which are free to low-income people. Goodwill retail stores and attended donation centers are drop-off points for donations of clothing, household items, books, furniture and more.

Information about locations and donation guidelines is online at seattlegoodwill.org, or call toll-free 877-GIVE4GOOD.

Recent addition

Lootas has done it again. For the fourth time, the Seattle Aquarium's 8-year-old northern sea otter has given birth to a healthy pup.

The sex of the pup, born at the aquarium Tuesday evening, isn't yet known, but aquarium biologists say both mother and newborn are doing well. Over the next few weeks, Lootas and her offspring will be monitored around the clock by aquarium volunteers.

Mother and pup are in an isolated section of the main otter exhibit, open to public view. But aquarium visitors are being kept a few feet away from the exhibit glass to avoid unnecessary stress to the animals.

Lootas came to Seattle's aquarium from SeaLife Center, an animal research and rehabilitation facility in Seward, Alaska. She was orphaned in Alaska as a 4-week-old pup in 1997 when her mother was killed by a powerboat.

The new pup's 5-year-old father, Adaa, was found as a pup suffering from hypothermia in Alaska. Raised at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, he was moved to Seattle as part of a breeding exchange program.

The Seattle Aquarium at Pier 59 is open daily. Information: 206-386-4320.

Here & Now is compiled by Seattle Times staff reporter Charles E. Brown and news assistant Suesan Whitney Henderson.

To submit an item, e-mail herenow@ seattletimes.com or call 206-464-2226.