A memorial service Thursday will recognize people who have died this year while they were homeless.
Around 100 names will be read at the service, held on Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, which happens every year on Dec. 21, the winter solstice, the organization Care for the Homeless said.
“For most people, the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, but for people experiencing homelessness it is the longest night of the year. Sometimes, it can be the longest and coldest night of the year,” said Jeff Foreman, the policy and advocacy director at Care for the Homeless.
The service will take place at the Luntey Commons at Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus on the corner of DeKalb and Flatbush avenues. It is open to the public and will start with a meal at 4:30 p.m., followed by the program at 5:30, organizers said.
As the names are read, information about each person will be projected onto a screen, and some will also be recognized in eulogies by those who knew them. Brooklyn Assemblyman Walter Mosley will speak at the service, a Care for the Homeless spokeswoman said.
Nearly 3,900 people were living on the streets in February 2017, when the Department of Homeless conducted its annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate. That figure was double 2016’s.
According to the department’s most recent report, about 60,500 people were in shelters across the city as of Sunday.
