Monday December 21st, the first day of winter, marked Homeless Memorial Day, where, for the past twenty years, people have gathered in the dark outside nation’s Capitol to commemorate the lives of our brothers and sisters who have died while homeless. Advocates of the homeless gathered to remember those that have died over the past year.
“We can end homelessness if we all did one ordinary act,” said Neil Donovan, Executive Director for the National Coalition for the Homeless.
The Church of the Epiphany’s Welcome Table Choir and Tom Goss provided the music.
Most people walk by homeless people everyday not knowing if they will ever see that person again, and in most cases they do not even care. This year it is evident that we all need to stop ignoring each other. You will never know if that person will be around the next day.
Among the names read were: Ken Ballard, Richard Bates, Catherine Bellamy, Linda Bouknight, William Bowie, Delores Bowser-Hill, Diane Bush, Clarence Calloway, Edward C. Carter, Darryl Chandler, Eugene Clay, Darlene Cooper, Leonel Cordera, Peter Cross, Rachael Culver, Gil Dean, Joe Dent, Sarah Douglas, Hazel Edmonds, John Farra, Zolie Fleetwood, Martin Fox, James Glover, Ellen Gong, Norbert “doc” Grigsby, Peter Lohot-Gros, Carl R. Hatchett, Delores B. Hill, Earl Hudgens, Bobby Jenkins, Wilson Howard, Joyce, John W. King, Shelby Lewis, Lindolph Marcellous, Cheryl Mcllwain, Flora Miller, Charles Mills, Eunice Minor, Terry Monroe, William Morris, Robert Moten, Yoshio Nakada, Roger Negate, Renee Paige, Jefferson Adelle, Byron Alexander, Gene Austin, Oscar, Louis K. Pidgieri, Michael Prozanao, Robert Pryor, George Pugh, George Reid, Richard Ridley, Archie Robinson, William Rucker, Larry Saunders, Alex Sibert, Brazil Smith, Paul Summers, Robert P. Thomas, Hannibal Tucker Jr., Harriet Tucker, Michael Tyree, Kathy Valentine, Roderick Valentine, Arthur Vaughn, Bernard Washington, Herbert Williams, Hilda Wilson, Angelia York, Bobby Young, Jane Doe, and John Doe.
