By Tom Mark

Homeless Memorial In Vernon This Week.

Oct 16, 2017 | 6:04 AM

Polson Park will be the site of Homeless Memorial on Thursday.

It’s the 4th annual organized by Reverend Chuck Harper of First Baptist Church.

“It’s just a time of enabling our homeless population to remember friends and loved ones who have died in the past year.”

Reverend Harper says it doesn’t matter that they were homeless, they were members of the community.

“So, you know, these are individuals. These are men and women who had a name, had a life, no matter how broken it was.”

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They are in front of us every day and have dominated news coverage for weeks.

Many just see them just as an annoyance.

But they live here and most die here and they are normally forgotten by the general community.

Reverend Harper recalls one man with whom he came know – a man named Dave.

“He was afraid for his life. He lived outside and he died behind the dumpster at the Shell station on the main drag. There wasn’t a single word about it. There wasn’t an obituary.”

He says there was more in the news about a car accident in which somebody was injured.

Reverend Harper says Dave had dignity – he had a life and value and it was like he never lived.

He says he knows of fifteen homeless people who died this year and says that’s about how many have died each year since he began the memorial.

These deaths are from various reasons from a compromised lifestyle and over and above the 16 overdose deaths that have occurred this year.

The memorial October 19th is at 2 pm at the gazebo in Polson Park.

by Tom Mark

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