Community members and homeless service organizations on Wednesday will honor the memory of unhoused people who died this year with a vigil. Organizers will read the names of 130 people after silently marching with fellow mourners from the Compassion Center to the American Indian Center in Albuquerque’s International District.
Zoe Robb with the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness said advocates know that even more people experiencing homelessness in the city died this year, but the population is difficult to track.
“The encampment sweeps that happen in Albuquerque make that even more difficult because people are moving from place to place,” she said, “and it also makes providing services more difficult”
Robb said the annual event, which the coalition puts on with other organizations like Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless, will include a reading from a pastor, prayers and an open-mic.
“We will have some food available. There'll be grief counselors available,” she said. “People will be able to kind of just bond and be with community.”
Robb said that, while organizers want to shine a light on unhoused mortality, the event — just days before Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day — is mostly about remembrance.
“We really try to keep the emphasis on honoring those who have passed,” she said, “because, you know, a lot of times it may be the only time that they're remembered.”
Robb said the vigil would feature fewer names if there was better access to healthcare and, of course, housing. But she also advocated simply for compassion and for the community to remember that those without homes are still our neighbors.
The event begins Wednesday, December 18, at 12:30 p.m. at the Compassion Center in southeast Albuquerque.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
