Homeless Memorial service adapts for covid-19 by Suzanne Hanney
The annual Homeless Memorial Service takes place close to the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, to acknowledge the valuable lives of homeless people who have unceremoniously passed away – “and to consider the harsh reality that any one of us could experience homelessness. “It could be you. It could be me. As a matter of fact, not too long ago, it WAS me,” said Edrika Fulford, a grassroots leader with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH). Fulford quit her job to spend five years taking care of her ailing mother, who died peacefully. Afterward, Fulford’s house went into foreclosure and she lost her car. “But I have a college degree. People with college degrees aren’t homeless – or are they?” she said as testimony during the December 15 virtual presentation organized by CCH; Franciscan Outreach; Harmony, Hope & Healing; Ignatian Spirituality Project and Old St. Patrick’s Church. Fulford thought she would go to a shelter to gather herself together but found instead that she fell through the cracks. “The reality is, I was not a victim of domestic violence, not a veteran, didn’t have any small children and was not experiencing substance abuse.”
FROM THE STREETS
Because of the stigma of homelessness, she didn’t even tell her two adult children, who thought she was staying with friends. Her friends thought she was staying with her children.
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Actually, Fulford was sleeping on trains and washing up at McDonald’s. As a 50-year-old with a five-year gap in her resume, she didn’t feel much in demand – until she met CCH Director of Organizing Wayne Richard. “The coalition gave me hope. Unfortunately, many experiencing homelessness die before hope arrives.” Richard, in turn, read his poem, “Our Voice,” which said, “We remember our brothers and sisters because their lives mattered, despite the emptiness of their pockets or that their clothes may have been tattered. Watching the powerful ones take all that they had left, it’s not enough for us to just say, ‘oh, that’s a shame.’” Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rev. Thomas J Hurley, pastor of Old St. Patrick’s, recalled that the church was under construction in 1853 when a cholera epidemic killed many of its immigrant parishioners and its pastor. A new wave of immigrants, and a new pastor, completed construction in time for midnight mass in 1856 and the church has stood through the Civil War, the Chicago Fire of 1871, the
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We remember our brothers and sisters because their lives mattered, despite the emptiness of their pockets or that their clothes may have been tattered... it’s not enough for us to just say, ‘oh, that’s a shame.’
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-Wayne Richard, cch director of organizing
Great Depression, two World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, 911. “It has been a sanctuary where people have stood for 165 years because of their faith in the Risen One,” Hurley said. “He walks with us always, with our sisters and brothers, for those who find themselves on the margins of society.” The list of more than 40 who died while homeless in the past year came from Breakthrough Ministries, Franciscan House shelter, North Side Housing, the Salvation Army Booth Lodge, SRHAC (Single Room Housing Assistance Corporation) and the Lawrence and Wilson viaducts over Lake Shore Drive: M. Rogers and L. Ward, Women’s Center; P. Washington and J. Green, Men’s Center; A. Williams, shelter staff; J. Richardson, A. Harris, V. Bell M., Scott S., Canty S., Mr. Canty’s Wife, N. Squier, C. Hunter, J. Johnson, M. Cox, Westlaw L., Thomas L., Carlos C., Kenneth P., Jeremiah W., David G., Reginald H., Wayne W., Tyrone B., Carl James C., Ernesto O., Colton G., Freeda A., Robert H., Kyra F., Yuanyuan, Joel G., Torrence W., Derius W., Kenneth H., Tameryra R., Michael C., Cynthia M., Duane P., Ricky S., Joseph Slovenic, Z. Williams, Johnny V.
