This brief note is in response to some questions we have been getting about this event. StreetSense means to be involved this year and publicize this well in advance so people can plan to attend and participate.
Each year in December (usually on or near the 21st) the annual “Homeless Persons’ Memorial” occurs throughout the nation (https://nationalhomeless.org/homeless-persons-memorial-day/).
According to their website, the National Coalition for the Homeless and two other groups “encourage communities to host public events on or near December 21 to remember their neighbors who have died homeless in the past year. National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day takes place each year on the longest night of the year, the winter solstice (usually December 21st). The first Annual Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day was commemorated in 1990. While we remember those we have lost this year, we cannot let this be the start of another year of growing homelessness” (https://nationalhomeless.org/homeless-persons-memorial-day/).
In the windy city, the “Chicago Coalition for the Homeless” organizes and publicizes this important event (https://www.chicagohomeless.org/).
We cannot let the unhoused go unforgotten! Their stories and legacies need to be shared!
StreetSense will update our readers and subscribers this fall.
Thank you for your good questions and your concerns about the unroofed persons we have in our city. We have gone over 60,000 homeless now, living somewhere in Chicago without their own roof.
We have also welcomed well over 20,000 migrants—individuals and families—many of whom are from Venezuela, Colombia, and Haiti, though there are persons from many other places who have arrived in the last year and who continue to arrive.
On the topic of the migrants, volunteers are needed to help translate in Spanish, French, and other languages at food pantries, clothing closets, and a variety of agencies, churches, and offices.
Contact the pantries in your neighborhood to see how you can help (https://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/). There are listings of both pantries and meals (soup kitchens).
Churches also often have facilities for helping the homeless and the migrants (all of whom are homeless, obviously).
Donations are welcome in addition to your time helping hand out food and other essential items.
If you can speak another language, chances are the city needs you!
Spanish is especially in demand—the governments in some countries removed English from the schools. StreetSense profiled two organizations needing volunteers in an article called “Care for Real and Casa Central Seek Volunteers: Two Chicago NPOs Welcome Helpers” (https://streetsense.substack.com/p/care-for-real-and-casa-central-seek).
StreetSense can also help you find ways to assist others.
Thank you for your concern about the unhoused and other disenfranchised persons in our community.