Memorial service to honor homeless people who have died

Homeless members of the community who lost their lives this year will be remembered at a Homeless Memorial Day event Saturday.

Organized by Golden Valley Health Centers and the Merced County Human Services Agency, the third annual event will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. at Applegate Park’s outdoor amphitheater.

This is the third year Merced has participated in the national memorial. In most places, the event takes place on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. The National Coalition for the Homeless has sponsored the memorial since 1990 in about 150 cities and counties across the country.

In Merced, members of the community will gather for a moment of silence and a candlelight vigil.

Juan Villa, event organizer and coordinator of the homeless program at Golden Valley Health Centers, said 23 homeless were identified and honored last year. This year’s list was not completed as of Wednesday afternoon.

The majority of the people who typically gather at these events, Villa explained, are other homeless people who want to commemorate their friends. But families of homeless people who have recently died also show up.

“(The event) creates awareness that homelessness is a problem here,” Villa said, “and it helps us recognize those that don’t have anybody else to remember them.”

In his work with the homeless community, Villa constantly hears stories that motivate him to continue.

This year, a story about a homeless woman in Modesto who was killed in a domestic violence incident touched him the most, he said. The woman was working on enrolling for services at the clinic, but was killed before she could receive help, he said.

“We also heard about another individual who died on a really cold night, waiting for a blanket,” Villa added. “These are the kind of stories we hear.”

According to the latest homeless count from earlier this year, there are 768 homeless people in Merced County, including 21 children. Numbers show that 79 percent of those are living on the streets, while the rest were counted in shelters and transitional housing programs.

Those without a home will receive coats at Saturday’s event. The coats are collected through donations from the health centers in Merced and Stanislaus counties.

“I think it’s important that people understand that homeless people are part of our community,” Villa said. “We’ve met people that were once contributing members of the community … and for one reason or another they end up in the streets.”

The Human Services Agency choir will provide entertainment, and pastries donated by local bakeries will be available. After the memorial, people will be transported to the Boys and Girls Club of Merced for a holiday lunch put on by the Merced Rescue Mission.

This story was originally published December 18, 2014 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Memorial service to honor homeless people who have died."