by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
About two dozen people gathered at noon Tuesday in Hemming Plaza to remember homeless friends, relatives and in some cases, clients, who died in the past 12 months. The informal memorial service is an annual event, held each year on the first day of winter.
“It’s the shortest day of the year,” said Dawn Gilman, executive director of the Emergency Services and Homeless Coalition.
The observance was inaugurated 10 years ago by Stan Grenn, who conducted a ministry for homeless people. When he contacted the City about holding a service at Hemming Plaza for those who died, Grenn said the City told him he wouldn’t be allowed to do that on public property unless he was related to the deceased.
“So I contacted the Sulzbacher Center and we had the first service there,” said Grenn. “Now the City lets us hold the service in the park every year.”
Gilman said determining exactly how many local homeless people have died in the past year would be difficult, if not impossible.
“There’s no way to know how many people we are memorializing here today,” she said. “We know how many people died an indigent death and had no family to claim them, which means there wasn’t a service for them, but many more have passed away that we don’t know about. We try every year to get some sort of count.”
The coalition conducts a census of homeless people each January. The last count revealed more than 3,500 people are homeless in Duval County every night, said Gilman.
“This is a day of celebration,” said Ju’Coby Pittman-Peele, CEO and president of Clara White Mission.
“Even though we are small in number, we must remember that poor people have been with us since the beginning of time and they will be with us until the end of time. It’s important to celebrate the lives of these people who are no longer with us and important to honor the individuals who sit in this park who have friends and relatives who have passed away,” she said.
She also recalled the philosophy of the mission’s founders that dates back to 1904.
“Do all the good you can for all the people you can, in all the ways you can for as long as you can,” said Pittman-Peele.
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