Gloved fingers lifted lit candles into the night sky Thursday as a crowd sang “This Little Light of Mine.”
About 80 people gathered outside St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in downtown Vancouver to memorialize the lives of the 43 members and supporters of Clark County’s homeless community who died this year. The event, National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, always falls on the first day of winter and the longest night of the year.
“We’re here to remember and to ensure that those who are at one time or another experiencing homelessness and may have passed away are not invisible,” Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle said.
Remember their names
The glow of the moon blanketed McEnerny-Ogle as she told the gathering about progress the community has made since last year’s memorial. Two additional Safe Stay shelters opened — bringing the total number of beds up to 160 — and Vancouver voters renewed the levy for the Affordable Housing Fund.
But McEnerny-Ogle said the names read at the event were a “powerful and emotional” reminder the community has so much work to do. She encouraged the community to keep saying the names of the deceased.
“Tonight, we grieve for the lives lost to homelessness but also that their memory pushes forward from this long, dark night into a brighter more hopeful future,” McEnerny-Ogle said.
Community members took the stage to share stories about those on the list — parents, children, friends, neighbors.
Jimmy Payne’s artwork hangs all over Pastor Linda Marousek’s home. The two met in 2006 and crossed paths throughout the years.
“I cried when I heard he died,” Marousek said.
Outsiders Inn shelter team member Alicia Sizemore said her hand will always be extended to those who need a bit of help getting on their feet.
“Somebody put their hand out to help me out, and my hand’s out for anybody who wants help up,” Sizemore said.
Laura Ellsworth, public policy and engagement manager of Council for the Homeless, said this is the sixth memorial she has participated in while at the council. She said the community continues to gather rain or shine, and no matter how low the temperature drops.
“On the first night of winter and on this longest night of the year — and as cold as we get in this hour outside — I do feel warm knowing that we are together remembering our people and that they mattered,” Ellsworth said.
Forgiveness and grace
Adam Kravitz, executive director of Outsiders Inn, has issued calls to action at the memorial each year: police reform for unsheltered homelessness, policy changes, more empathy, more shelter.
In 2022, his call to action was to believe in people. And while he was addressing the crowd then, someone shouted from across the street, “I’m right here,” Kravitz recalled.
“I couldn’t recover what I was trying to say, I couldn’t bring the conversation back to the feeling I had,” Kravitz said. “I couldn’t let go of the fact that I knew exactly how he felt. I might have been him.”
That moment’s feeling has been on Kravitz’s mind for the past year and has shaped his and his team’s, work, he said. And it shaped this year’s call to action.
Kravitz’s first two calls to action were for the community to have a collective understanding of homelessness and for residents to nurture themselves, families and values.
But his main focus this year was forgiveness and grace.
“I don’t know much about grace; I’m not an expert, not a pastor,” Kravitz said. “But what I think I know about grace is that grace is treating all persons like honorable citizens. … We can’t help our community grow and heal without forgiveness and grace.”
Ellsworth, with Council for the Homeless, said as a community, we can make change so that homelessness doesn’t continue to impact so many residents — especially so people are not dying outside.
“To the individuals on our name board tonight and on our programs: You matter and you are loved and you are missed,” Ellsworth said. “And we will keep working, and we will not forget you.”
