Whenever I train homeless service providers to provide housing focused outreach, the first question I typically receive is, “Yeah, this is great and all, but what if you don’t have any housing available?”
Cambridge, Massachusetts. December 21, 2014. The first day of winter. The longest night of the year.
Last Friday I participated in the annual Homeless Memorial Service at the Church on the Hill in Boston. Prayers were said, songs sung, silences held, and names read. To be exact, we read 98 names—the names of people who died in Boston over the past year while experiencing homelessness. In addition to those 98 names, the audience added a dozen more in the silent space between readings. For each name, we lit a candle.
By Nick Garza and Collin J. Whelley --
Recently, I wrote for Threads about my experiences in medical settings in the post "Looking for the Borderline Patient."
