“None of our neighbors should die without having their lives remembered and celebrated”

“On average, we are generally looking at 3,500 people who are homeless here in Madison at any given time,” says Linda Ketcham, executive director of Madison-area Urban Ministry (MUM). “The Public Health Department tells us that annually they work with 70 to 90 homeless pregnant women a year. The social workers at the [MMSDs] Transition Education Program will tell you that there are over 1,000 homeless kids in the Madison Metropolitan School District alone that they’ve identified this year.”

Homelessness has been an ongoing problem for the city of Madison and to bring awareness to issue and to honor those who have died, MUM, First Congregational Church, Lake Edge Church, and First United Methodist will once again host the Longest Night Homeless Persons Memorial Service.

“Every person in our community is our neighbor and every person deserves to have their life celebrated and remembered when they die,” Ketcham tells Madison365. “That’s what this is about.”

As in years past, the groups will gather at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 21 (the longest night of the year), to remember homeless people who have died during the past year. They will meet at the marble bench on the corner of East Main, South Pinckney and King Streets where Dwayne Warren’s lifeless body was found on June 26th, 2009. “Dwayne was a 38-year-old man who was homeless and likely had a mental illness based up what his friends have said,” Ketcham says. “We had been talking among the faith community prior to this and asking: Where is the funeral, the memorial and the celebration of life for someone who is homeless? We just decided that with Dwayne we would help this attorney who had befriended him to coordinate that.”

MUM, First Congregational UCC, Lake Edge UCC and First United Methodist all came together and chipped in to help. “His memorial was held at First Congregational and there were probably about 35 people there,” Ketcham remembers. “And, we, said, ‘Yeah, we just need to do this [every year] as part of the Longest Night.

“As a Christian, it comes at a time when we are all anticipating the birth of Jesus and we are all hearing the story of the strangers who had no place to go and no safe, warm place to deliver a baby,” Ketcham adds. “To us, it just seemed to make sense to build onto that national movement.”

This will be the seventh annual event which will be held outside to remind people that it is, indeed, the longest night of the year. “We’ve had years where it is pretty bitter cold out there,” Ketcham says. “As difficult as it is to stand outside for an hour, it really does get people thinking: What is this like all the time with no place to go?”

Ketcham says that they have a yearlong process where they collect names of people from many different agencies and they put together a memorial book. “What really struck me when we were putting the names together was just the age range – from 27 years old to 65 years old,” Ketcham says. “But only one of the people that we’re remembering this year was in their 60s. Everyone else ranges from the late 20s into their 50s.

“This year we really wanted to add that last piece of what typically happens with a memorial or funeral which is a time of fellowship and a meal afterward,” Ketcham adds.

After the service on the Capitol Square and the procession around the Capitol, a Soup and Bread Dinner Reception will follow from 4:30-6 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 203 Wisconsin Ave., one block from the Capitol Square. The reception is being sponsored by Bliss Flow Yoga.

If people are interested in helping out with donations in the meantime, they can drop off thermal underwear, winter socks, hand warmers, winter hats, scarves, and gloves any time between 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at First United Methodist Church. “We will distribute those items to the folks that will need it. Some of it will go right back out to folks tomorrow night,” Ketcham says.

An informational session will be held earlier in the day from 8-9 a.m. at the Healing House, the first medical respite center in Wisconsin. They will assist homeless families where either parent or child is in need of a safe recuperative place to stay post-hospitalization. Their 8-10 bed facility will be staffed 24/7 with medically trained individuals and volunteers.

“Members of families make up the largest percentage of people who are homeless in our community right now,” Ketcham says. “People are surprised by that because so much of our emphasis and focus is often on single adults who are homeless – and that certainly is a challenge, too – but people don’t realize how many families are homeless.”

The goals of tomorrow’s event are to increase the awareness of growing homelessness in our city, but to also remember those homeless who have died. “First and foremost, we are celebrating their lives and giving their friends and family a place to grieve,” Ketcham says. “When a friend of yours who is homeless dies, you don’t have that opportunity to say good-bye and that feeling of community. So, that’s our goal. None of our neighbors should die without having their lives remembered and celebrated.”

For more information about Longest Night Homeless Persons Memorial Service, e-mail [email protected].