CHARLESTON, W.Va. — 50 people who have died around the Mountain State while homeless in 2019 were remembered on Friday in Charleston.
Those 50 people had their names read during an annual homeless person’s memorial presented by the Kanawha County Collective at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
The event is to bring awareness to people without a home as December 21, the shortest day of the year, is National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day across the United States.
“It’s important for the community to understand what is happening in our community,” Traci Strickland, the executive director of Kanawha Valley Collective said.
Before names were read by guests including Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin and officials from Balance of State Continuum of Care, Northern Panhandle Continuum of Care, Cabell Huntington Wayne Continuum of Care, and Kanawha Valley Collective Continuum of Care, an invocation was given by Rev. Cindy Briggs-Biondi with St. Paul and Brown United Methodist churches.
Music was sung by Dina Hornbaker and the two keynote speakers were Major Brooks Gilliam of the Charleston Salvation Army and Dr. Amanda Coleman of the Cabell Huntington Coalition of the Homeless.
Gilliam spoke about his personal attachments to people who have been homeless while Coleman focused on more needing to get done in the political realm to help the people suffering from homelessness.
The memorial event in 2018 remembered around 70 people across the state. Strickland said it was two years ago that the Kanawha Valley Collective opened up their service to everyone around the state so more could be remembered.
She said the service providers need a chance to gather their feelings and reflect on those they have worked so much with.
“A lot of times with the individuals we serve, we are in their life,” Strickland said. “We know them better than a lot of people. A lot of our clients are without a family and many of our service providers are their emergency contacts at hospitals. This gives the providers time together and to reflect.
“It’s also important for the people we are remembering who may not have been able to have a service because they weren’t connected anywhere.”
The Kanawha Valley Collective is a local Continuum of Care working to prevent and end homelessness in four West Virginia counties: Kanawha, Boone, Clay, and Putnam.