By Jeremy Morrison, Inweekly
More than 40 homeless people who died this year were honored with a candlelight memorial service Thursday night at the Waterfront Rescue Mission, providing the deceased with a formal and somber acknowledgement of their passing and remembrance of their life.
“They all lived unique lives, had unique journeys and, like all of us, had unique challenges,” said Chandra Smiley, CEO of Community Health of NWFL.
With a singular table positioned in the center of those assembled, a collection of candles was lit and, one by one, each bearing the name of an individual who has passed away this year, they were placed on the table.
“Light pushes back darkness, light is comforting, light gives you confidence,” said John Johnson, director of Opening Door of Northwest Florida.
In unison, the assembled crowd lit their own candles, as Amazing Grace was performed and those lost were remembered. As Clay Romano, president of Waterfront, had said earlier in the evening, “each of them deserve to be remembered and lifted up in prayer this evening.”
Offering a personal perspective on the condition of homelessness, Melvin Grace — who now serves up food Waterfront’s kitchen — shared with those gathered his experience living without permanent shelter.
“Homelessness is real and can happen to the best of us,” he said. “This night, you’re on top of the world, the next night the world is on top of you.”
Grace relayed how living on the street can be a hard, dangerous existence. He urged people to show compassion for people who found themselves homeless for whatever reason.
“When you pass by a homeless person, don’t just pass by them, see them, see them as a human,” Grace said.
Prior to the candlelight service, — coordinated by Waterfront, Opening Doors and Community Health of NWFL to coincide with National Homeless and Hunger Awareness Week — Angie Ishee, Waterfront’s Vice President of PR and Development, noted an unfortunate aside. When the press release regarding the candlelight service was originally sent out, the number of deceased homeless individuals was significantly lower.
“At the time I sent that last week, we had 32 names on the list, which is inline with the 25-30 average each year,” Ishee shared. “However, we just finalized the list and sadly there are 41 names.”
Those individuals who died while homeless, Ishee said, might not otherwise be afforded a formal send-off, save for this annual candlelight service noting their passing — “Typically they don’t have family members or friends who have a service for them at the time of their death. They might otherwise be forgotten.” — and the vigil gives the wider community an opportunity to grieve.
“Our homeless neighbors matter,” Ishee said. “They are mothers, sons, brothers, daddies, sisters. They were our friends.”