Friends, neighbors, district students and well-wishers will gather at the Dunfee School at 4 p.m. today for a special caroling event intended to bring cheer and comfort to Kyle McGetrick, a township 11-year-old whose parents say is at the end of 7-year fight against cancer.

Kyle and his family were treated to a parade of nearly 100 fire trucks from all over the county Wednesday night, and now another show of support is in the works: Caroling for Kyle.

Dee Lynch's son Jimmy is Kyle's close friend and fellow Boy Scout, and said Kyle's absence at a recent badge ceremony hit everyone hard.

"I said, 'Kyle should be here,'" she said.

She came up with the idea of a the scouts and a few friends coming together to sing for the family. Barnegat High School's select choir got on board. And suddenly more and more people wanted to join in.

Lynch said she'd wanted to keep it small at first, but changed her mind. The more voices, the more love, the better. 

"It's turned into a town event," she said. 

Attendees will gather at the elementary school beginning at 4 p.m., she said, and at 4:30 will begin an orderly walk – singing all the way – to the McGetrick home four blocks away. Barnegat police will provide traffic safety support. The crowd will sing for a short time outside the home, Lynch said, before heading back to the school.

Lynch said she and others would be offering "Courage for Kyle" bracelets for sale tonight, the same rubber wristbands that friends have been selling for months to raise money for the McGetrick family. Efforts to support the family, like the yardsale benefit held in August and the lemonade stand run by youngsters the same week, will not end now.

"We want Courage for Kyle to continue," she said.