Linda, Kenneth, Sharon, Victoria, Boyd, Wayne, Johnny, Vernon and "unknown"
December 21st is National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day. Locally, AmeriCorps Partnership to End Homelessness sponsored the Greensboro Homeless Memorial Walk from the Interactive Resource Center on East Washington Street to Grace Community Church on West Lee Street, where a Memorial Service was held at 6:15pm.
On the stage were a row of empty chairs with the names of those who died homeless in Greensboro in 2011 — Linda, Kenneth, Sharon, Victoria, Boyd, Wayne, Johnny, Vernon — along with a chair marked “unknown”, representing others we may not have known about. The empty chairs represent the dinner guests who are no longer with us there at the Wednesday night meal, but who we remember and honor at this yearly service.
Mayor Perkins, accompanied by Councilwoman Abuzuaiter, reads the proclamation.
Mayor Robbie Perkins, accompanied on the podium at Grace by City Council Member Marikay Abuzuaiter, read a proclamation declaring the day Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day in Greensboro. Both Mayor Perkins and Mrs. Abuzuaiter participated in the earlier Memorial Walk, as well. The service included music; the story, in poetry, of formerly-homeless outreach worker Melissa Gayle; and a message by Grace’s Shepherding Pastor Will Dungee. Following the memorial service, Grace’s weekly Community Fellowship Dinner was served to 200+ homeless and hungry guests.
