PFFC's Sixth Annual Vigil: 2018 - People For Fairness Coalition

PFFC’s 6^th Annual Vigil, to remember those who died during 2018 without the dignity of a home, took place on Thursday, December 20 and Friday, December 21. The vigil’s organizers, many of whom are experiencing homelessness themselves, held the opening event at Luther Place Memorial Church on Thursday night. Several speakers knew the deceased personally and could speak to the experience of being homeless. Following the service, participants held a candlelight procession from Luther Place Church to a tent near Freedom Plaza, where organizers served dinner. More than a dozen people stayed in the tent—still wet and cold from the constant rain outside—until daybreak.

Following breakfast and advocacy training on Friday, those who spent the night plus others who rejoined the event, did a walk around the Wilson Building where they advocated for increasing the amount of DC government funds dedicated to providing safe, affordable housing to people living in shelters and on the streets and for passage of the Michael A.Stoops Anti-Discrimination Amendment Act, which makes homelessness a privileged class in the ….

The Vigil ended with a procession from Freedom Plaza up 13^th St to the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church where participants received lunch followed by a memorial service where the names of 54 individuals who died during the year without the dignity of a home, plus 83 individuals recently housed also died, were read while participants held candles in remembrance of these individuals who lives needlessly cut showt.

An estimated 105 individuals – representing DC’s community experiencing homelessness, organizations that deliver services to the homeless, and members of the DC government, including the DC Council – participated in the Vigil.

The 2018 Homeless Vigil received coverage from: Street Sense Media, DCist, and
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