Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day

Service at Federated Church in Hyannis Honors Homeless on the Longest Night of the Year.
Annual Homeless Persons Memorial Day Service begins on Village Green,

Monday December 21st at 5:00 pm

With bagpipes, songs, candles and prayers, the Cape Cod community will once again join together to honor the homeless men and woman who died last year. The Homeless Persons Memorial Service is an opportunity to acknowledge the passing of people who may have no family to honor and celebrate the successes they achieved and friendships they made.
As the event enters its 25th year, the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council view National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day as an occasion to bring attention to the tragedy of homelessness and to remember the individuals who have paid the ultimate price for our nation’s failure to end homelessness. More than 180 events will be held across the country on the longest night of the year to highlight the cold, harsh conditions the homeless face during the winter. This year 31 homeless or previously homeless people have died on Cape Cod. Heidi Nelson, Duffy Health Center’s CEO, encourages everyone to “come and help lift up the names of those who might otherwise just be a statistic.”

This year’s memorial will begin at 5:00 pm on the Hyannis Village Green with a service led by Dan McCullough of Homeless Outreach Team M25. Attendees will then proceed to the Hyannis Federated Church on Main Street to honor those who passed away this year. During the service, members of the Homespinners will be providing music. An informal gathering will be held in the Church Hall immediately following the service. Donations of new socks, hats, and gloves are welcome.

As the Cape Cod Times stated in an Editorial in 2014, , “Since 1990 at least 200 homeless men and women have died on Cape Cod. But that statistic is meaningless until we realize that those 200 are not nameless, faceless individuals, but 200 of our neighbors; 200 people whose lives touched and affected countless other lives in ever-widening concentric circles.” Please plan to join us with your neighbors as we remember those in our community who passed away this year.