By candlelight, these 32 names were read out loud in front of City Hall. Here’s why
One by one their names were read out loud as candlelight flickered against the night on Thursday, Dec. 19.
There were 32 names for the 32 people who died in 2019 in the community as a result of homelessness.
The Whatcom County Coalition to End Homelessness hosted the Thursday ceremony outside Bellingham City Hall.
Called the Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, the fifth annual event in Bellingham was part of remembrances across the country that have been sponsored by the National Coalition for the Homeless since 1990.
The first one here was in December 2015.
The remembrance was “beautiful, sweet and sad. I heard someone say, ‘This is the closure we need,’ ” Mike Parker, director of the Whatcom Homeless Service Center, told The Bellingham Herald.
The remembrance is set for Dec. 21 — the first day of winter and the longest night of the year — but the one in Bellingham was held on Thursday because Dec. 21 falls on a weekend this year.
Not all the people who were remembered Thursday night were homeless at the time of their deaths.
Some may have found housing. But all of their names were called out so that they were not forgotten and as a reminder of the real costs of homelessness — living on the streets can take years off your life and medical problems such as heart conditions can be created or exacerbated while being homeless, Parker explained.
“A lot of people are dying of things that are secondary to their homelessness,” he said. “It’s our understanding that very few of these folks die from actual hypothermia.”
Parker added: ”We know that people who experience homelessness experience premature deaths” at a much higher rate.
People who are homeless can expect to live, on average, until they’re about 50 years old, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. That’s about 20 years fewer than people who have housing.
The life gap can be even wider between those who have homes and those who don’t.
In L.A. County, which has been grappling with a surge in homeless deaths, the average age of death is 51 for those who are homeless, compared to 80 for those who aren’t, according to a Dec. 14 article in the Los Angeles Times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that “homelessness is closely connected to declines in physical and mental health.”
“Homeless persons experience high rates of health problems such as HIV infection, alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, tuberculosis and other conditions,” the CDC states.
Back in Bellingham, those who died in Whatcom County this year were remembered Thursday night under cold rain and wind.
At least 30 people showed up for the short ceremony — among them service providers and people who had been homeless and were there to say goodbye, according to Parker.
“Every year, it’s too long. There are too many names. These are all our community members,” Parker said. “Let’s work toward making this the last memorial.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 9:00 AM.
