Vigil in Dover honoring National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day
Vigil in Dover honoring National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day
December 18, 2017
Dover, N.J. – Residents from Morris County and beyond will gather in honor of National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, an annual event commemorated in over 150 cities and counties across the United States on the first day of winter. Organized by the Green Party of Morris, Sussex, and Warren Counties, Wind of the Spirit, and Laundry Love of Rockaway, this will be the first annual event of its kind in Dover. All are welcome.
Members of the homeless community, advocates, faith leaders, artists, musicians, and formerly homeless community leaders will share testimonies to raise awareness of the issues of homelessness in Morris County. According to United Way’s ALICE study (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), $67,871 is the minimum income required for a family of four living in Morris County to afford the basics of self-sufficiency: housing, child care, food, transportation, and healthcare. A total of 46,154 households did not earn enough to be self-sufficient; that is 25% of all households in Morris.
A number of factors account for continuing poverty including lack of employment opportunities, a decline in available public assistance, lack of affordable healthcare, domestic violence, mental and physical illness or disability, and the built-in systemic inequities in areas of education, immigration, the criminal justice and political systems.
The First United Methodist Church of Dover will host gatherers after the outdoors memorial service for a community meal and collection of donations for the local homeless community. Donations of gloves, hats, scarves, sleeping bags, or other cold weather items are requested.
If you are a person with a story or song or piece of art to share about your experiences with homelessness, please emailGPofMSW@gmail.com.
WHO: Homeless advocates, service providers, homeless and formerly homeless persons, faith leaders, concerned neighbors, city representatives… and you.
WHAT: National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day vigil, performances, and call to action
WHERE: On the lawn in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church on East Blackwell Street between Essex and Bergen Streets, Dover, New Jersey.
WHEN: Thursday, December 21st, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/
Since 1990, the National Coalition for the Homeless has sponsored National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day on the first day of winter to bring attention to the tragedy of homelessness and to remember our homeless citizens who have paid the ultimate price for our nation’s failure to address the issue.
Organizers of this year’s event in Dover are calling attention to this time of economic hardship for many Americans: “It is going to get worse before it gets better,” said Theresa Markila, chair of the Green Party of Morris, Sussex, and Warren Counties. “The middle and lower classes have been squeezed until there’s little left for decades, and now we see that even the minimal safety nets that we had are under attack in new ways almost daily. I believe that we must come together as communities and fight back while offering real, practical support to one another.”
More information about National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day and the National Coalition for the Homeless is available at http://www.nationalhomeless.
More information about the Green Party of Morris, Sussex, and Warren Counties is available at http://www.GPofMSW.com
More information about Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center is available at http://www.windofthespirit.net
More information about Laundry Love of Rockaway is available at https://www.facebook.com/
