Homeless Memorial Day 2012


 

 

            On December 19, 2012 at 4:30pm people began to gather for a celebration of life in the Plaza outside of the Municipal Services Building in Center City Philadelphia. It was a tribute to the living and those who had left us. Those individuals who had fought against homelessness and those who were victims of homelessness were celebrated. The gathering was small at first then grew in numbers until it reached approximately 500 individuals. It was part protest and part memorial. There was a list of those who had died in the streets for the past year. Each year Project HOME , an organization dedicated to eradicate homelessness along with ACT UP Philadelphia, Arch Street United Methodist Church; Catholic Social Services; Episcopal Community Services/ St Barnabas Mission; Homeless Advocacy Project; Horizon House;  NAACP Philadelphia Chapter; Impact Service Corporation; Salvation Army/Emergency Disaster Services; Public Health Management Corporation; Just Cookies; Mental Health Association of South Eastern Pennsylvania; Ready, Willing and Able Philadelphia; SELF, Inc. Sobriety Through Outpatient; St Francis Inn; Youth Emergency Services and other grass roots community organizations gathered together to remember homeless and formerly homeless Philadelphians who died during 2012 and called for a renewed commitment to end homelessness.

            Each speaker spoke of the need to end the problem of homelessness through a renewed commitment to increase state and federal funding to build more public housing; to fight drug addiction; and fight unemployment with public works. The fiscal cliff involves real people who have to sleep on the streets because of the Republican led U.S. House of Representatives commitment to increased military spending and cutting federal programs and benefits for the working population in American that is in dire need. Poverty is increasing in the United States. The numbers of individuals who make less than half the federal poverty line income and who are in dire poverty have increased by over 100 percent over the past few years. The reality is that those who are living without a place to stay have increased astronomically. Programs cut at this point means a further rise in those living in the streets. People who live at the bottom of the U.S. society have suffered even worse during the Great Recession. Those who make more than $400,000 a year should be required to pay their fare share of the taxes. People who are living close to the edge of life cannot afford a cut in benefits. A bed to sleep; a decent place to live; food to eat, is too little to ask in a nation where the Gross Domestic Product is over ten trillion dollars a year.

            This Christmas, Sister Mary Scullion of Project HOME, Leroy Jordan, of Ready ,Willing and Able and each one of the groups and speakers spoke passionately about the need to end the talk of blaming the victim and the restoration of federal services so badly needed in the Philadelphia community. There is a desperate need for a Christmas present from Congress. The people of the United States need the money and the commitment to end poverty in the United States, even if it means increasing the taxes on the wealthiest citizens. To help Americans remember the poor were human beings. They lit candles and memorialized those who died without a decent place to stay. There was a color guard of veterans to honor those who died in streets who served in the Armed Forces. People were remembered whether they died in temporary housing, on the street, or whether they died of AIDS/HIV or were murdered. Those that gathered wanted to give the community a sense of hope. Happy Holidays!

 

           

 

 

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