AURELIUS - Bret Hake loved bowling and living in his group home in Auburn. But most of all, he loved Camp Columbus.

Hake, who had Down Syndrome, died of pneumonia at age 42 in December 2004. His parents came to the Seneca Cayuga ARC in Aurelius Thursday evening to honor his life with a white light on a Christmas tree.

“Bret would be very happy,” said his mother, Shirley Hake. “He is probably looking down on us from heaven.”

About a dozen people gathered at the new ARC building on Clark Street Road for “Lights for Loved Ones.” Donors paid $2 each to put a light on the tree in honor of a loved one - mothers and fathers, sons and daughters and even pets. A red banner with all of the names hung on the wall near the tree in the building's training room.

“It's a celebration of people who have touched our lives,” said Mark Covich, coordinator of recreational services. “It's a remembrance celebration.”

The town of Aurelius sent a proclamation, Tyburn Academy's choir performed and the Rev. Dennis Shaw of Holy Family Church gave the invocation.

“I stand in awe of what you do,” he said.

The ARC has been holding the event for 16 years in Seneca County, but this was the first year in Cayuga County. About a dozen people attended in Cayuga, as opposed to about three dozen when the event was held in Seneca County.

“We just hope it grows like it did in Seneca,” said Anne Ventura, coordinator of community relations.

The ARC, which serves developmentally disabled children and adults, raised about $2,000 between the two counties.

The money benefits the ARC's Children and Adult Recreation Programs. Services include Camp Columbus and its five-week program each summer, baseball games, dinner outings, bingo at Sacred Heart Church, barbecues, picnics and swimming at the Skaneateles Community Recreation Center and the Auburn YMCA.

Camp Columbus served 200 campers this past year. On a regular basis, the ARC provides services for about 70 adults, young adults and children in Cayuga County, Covich said.

Donations also will help underwrite the cost of transportation for people who use the ARC's services, allowing them to ride for a nominal fee when parents or guardians cannot drive them.

The activities are meant to be a springboard to independence, said Kevin Smith, ARC director.

“The goal is to learn what the community has to offer in a supportive environment and then to be able on their own to go out and utilize that,” he said.