38 gather to observe homeless who died on streets
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Mac McMahon, left, and Linda Sheets sing "Amazing Grace" at a candlelight vigil to remember the homeless who died while on the streets this year at the Grant Street memorial on Wednesday. Ms. Sheets works for Pittsburgh Mercy Health System and Mr. McMahon works for Community Human Services.
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Craig Duncan's life remains a mystery to many of the 38 people who gathered under a Downtown overpass Wednesday evening to honor him.
A case manager remembered that Mr. Duncan battled drug addiction and mental health problems. Another man remembered that Mr. Duncan died after a "falling accident" in July.
Mr. Duncan is the only known homeless person to die on a Pittsburgh street this year. For those who gathered on the longest night of the year, as they do every Dec. 21, to remember the homeless men and women who have died on city streets, his death holds a bittersweet significance.
Three people died on Pittsburgh streets last year, and 11 people the year before.
"I have tremendous hope that our numbers will continue to reduce each year," Melody Miller, a case manager with Operation Safety Net, told the crowd gathered along Fort Pitt Boulevard near Grant Street between thunderstorms.
Jim Withers began Operation Safety Net, a program that provides street-side assistance to Pittsburgh's homeless, in 1992 and began holding a formal ceremony to honor the deceased years later when "people who were dying were haunting me as I made my rounds."
Dr. Withers said he views the decreasing number of deaths as "a sign of a lot of progress," which he attributes partially to the fact that Operation Safety Net and some of its partners have been able to help find the funding needed to put 700 homeless people in apartments over the past seven years.
Michael Ranker is one such success story. Mr. Ranker, who now lives in Sheraden, said he was homeless before he met Dr. Withers, who treated him after he fell and injured his head while living on the streets.
After Wednesday's vigil, Mr. Ranker noted how his case compared to those of Mr. Duncan and the nearly 120 other deceased homeless people whose names adorn plaques attached to the overpass.
"Dr. Withers picked me up and stitched me up," Mr. Ranker said. "I wanted to see the people and feel some sense of gratitude."
Mr. Ranker, social workers, volunteers and others gathered for about 15 minutes under the overpass, singing "Amazing Grace" while holding white or red candles. A boy played "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes. Dr. Withers also read the names of two friends -- Larry Flavin and Paul Fouty -- who both died this year and had been homeless at one point or another.
Prevailing among most of the brief speeches, including one by the president and CEO of Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, was a common theme: hope that next year, there wouldn't be a need for a ceremony.
"When you were coming here, you might have noticed the double rainbows in the sky," Sister Susan Welsh told the crowd. "What we commemorate tonight is the hope that some day homelessness in America will end."
First Published December 22, 2011 12:00 am
