Try these links to additional information about the "Longest Night" past and present
View or download a list of 244 names of homeless persons that died in OC during 2018
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The Longest Night 2018Each year on the winter solstice, we remember friends and neighbors that passed away that year without permanent places to call home.Our annual event in honor of National Homeless Persons Memorial Day was held on December 21, 2018 at the Anaheim Cemetery in Anaheim, CA.
This was the fifth year in a row that Hope 4 Restoration sponsored this event. Each year the number of homeless persons that had died increased. In 2018 persons experiencing homelessness died in Orange County at a rate of one every 30 hours. 244 lives were lost to homelessness this year. |
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We Honor Them In Our Memories And Keep Them In Our Hearts
Words from Tim Houchen, Founder and Executive Director of Hope 4 Restoration
Every year since 2014, I have been involved with the organization of the "Longest Night" event. Each year the event has grown in attendance and people from all walks of life gather to honor the lives of those who died from a lack of healthy, safe and secure places to live. On this day,members from Anaheim City Council, State Legislators, Congressional Representatives, members of clergy from multiple faiths, advocates, homeless persons, formerly homeless persons and everyday people from our communities were there to pay their respects to those that died.
We gather each year to help members of the local homeless community to mourn the loss of friends and loved-ones and we honor the dead with a solemn ceremony and prayer. Our hopes are to create a greater community awareness that will facilitate solutions and end what has become a humanitarian crisis. As a result of our efforts to raise awareness, numerous news articles and television news documentaries encouraged a greater discussion within our communities for a more urgent response to those in need of help and solutions to bring an end to homelessness. If we are able to raise awareness enough, perhaps more members of our community will practice tolerance and consideration for persons experiencing homelessness and treat them as more than just human beings, but members of our community and worthy of dignity and respect.
If we can accomplish these things, we feel that no life lost will have been a life lost in vain.
Every year since 2014, I have been involved with the organization of the "Longest Night" event. Each year the event has grown in attendance and people from all walks of life gather to honor the lives of those who died from a lack of healthy, safe and secure places to live. On this day,members from Anaheim City Council, State Legislators, Congressional Representatives, members of clergy from multiple faiths, advocates, homeless persons, formerly homeless persons and everyday people from our communities were there to pay their respects to those that died.
We gather each year to help members of the local homeless community to mourn the loss of friends and loved-ones and we honor the dead with a solemn ceremony and prayer. Our hopes are to create a greater community awareness that will facilitate solutions and end what has become a humanitarian crisis. As a result of our efforts to raise awareness, numerous news articles and television news documentaries encouraged a greater discussion within our communities for a more urgent response to those in need of help and solutions to bring an end to homelessness. If we are able to raise awareness enough, perhaps more members of our community will practice tolerance and consideration for persons experiencing homelessness and treat them as more than just human beings, but members of our community and worthy of dignity and respect.
If we can accomplish these things, we feel that no life lost will have been a life lost in vain.
See videos taken from our 2018 eventShow your support for the Longest Night as an official sponsor
click here for details |
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2018's Moment of Inspiration
Each year since I began organizing the memorial for the homeless in 2014, I have been faced with the sadness of memorializing people that I knew from when I was still homeless myself at the Santa Ana Civic Center between 2011 and 2015. Most often, I am unaware that they had passed away until I come across their name on the list that we receive from the Orange County Coroner's Office.
This year it seemed that more familiar names were on that list than ever before. And then there were the names of homeless people that I had worked with from the riverbed too, making this an exceptionally difficult year not only for myself, but for many other advocates as well. We work so hard trying to help them and we hope and pray for better outcomes for them, but it seems that there is nothing we can do to slow down the rate that they are dying at.
Every year also has its bright spots, or what I call " moments of inspiration." It's these moments that remind me of the importance of holding this memorial event every year despite how sad it might be. Every year brings a different set of circumstances and each year has a unique moment of inspiration for me. When these "moments" strike, it's like I am overcome by an incredible feeling of calm, peace and well-being along with the sense that at that moment I am suddenly doing the right thing, at the right place and time, for the right reasons.
In my life, it didn't always happen like that for me, Even before I became homeless, I dealt with feelings of inferiority and feeling as if I didn't belong anywhere or deserve anything but misery. I believe that these feelings led up to my becoming homeless and I think that to some extent that other persons experiencing homelessness suffer these thoughts about themselves too. I no longer suffer from these painful feelings like in the past, but it is these incredible feelings of right thing, place, time and reason have helped me to put those painful feelings behind and move forward in life.
This year it seemed that more familiar names were on that list than ever before. And then there were the names of homeless people that I had worked with from the riverbed too, making this an exceptionally difficult year not only for myself, but for many other advocates as well. We work so hard trying to help them and we hope and pray for better outcomes for them, but it seems that there is nothing we can do to slow down the rate that they are dying at.
Every year also has its bright spots, or what I call " moments of inspiration." It's these moments that remind me of the importance of holding this memorial event every year despite how sad it might be. Every year brings a different set of circumstances and each year has a unique moment of inspiration for me. When these "moments" strike, it's like I am overcome by an incredible feeling of calm, peace and well-being along with the sense that at that moment I am suddenly doing the right thing, at the right place and time, for the right reasons.
In my life, it didn't always happen like that for me, Even before I became homeless, I dealt with feelings of inferiority and feeling as if I didn't belong anywhere or deserve anything but misery. I believe that these feelings led up to my becoming homeless and I think that to some extent that other persons experiencing homelessness suffer these thoughts about themselves too. I no longer suffer from these painful feelings like in the past, but it is these incredible feelings of right thing, place, time and reason have helped me to put those painful feelings behind and move forward in life.
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My 2018 moment of inspiration came from a young lady that attended the memorial event. She was about 19 or 20 and real cute and very well-spoken and polite, she approached me for help finding a name on the memorial wall.
I index the entire list of names every year and each name is designated a special code that helps me to locate the name without having to search all the names to find it. When I showed the young lady where the name was located on the wall I asked if the name belonged to a friend and she told me that it was her mother.
Her mother's name was not on the original list from the Coroner, but had been brought to my attention by a fellow advocate that knew the woman. It happens every year that names are left off of the list for one reason or another. I go through a verification process to make sure that the name belongs on the wall. I was able to verify the name about a day or so before the event.
I had no idea the the daughter would show up at the event, so when the girl told me she was the woman's daughter, I was immediately choked-up. I hugged the girl and told her that I was so sorry for her loss. She told me that she was okay and that she had been raised by her grandparents and that her mother had promised that she would quit drugs and that they would get a place so that the two could be together again, but that never happened. Despite being disappointed for many years, the girl still loved her mother very much. She told me that she couldn't believe that anyone besides she and her family would care for her mother enough to honor her in a memorial service. She said that she attended our event just so she could see her mother's name on our wall with her own eyes and that she was interested in meeting the person responsible for making that happen.
It's special moments of inspiration like this that motivate me to continue organizing this event for as many years as necessary in the future until our greatest hopes are fulfilled and no person loses their life to homelessness ever again.
I index the entire list of names every year and each name is designated a special code that helps me to locate the name without having to search all the names to find it. When I showed the young lady where the name was located on the wall I asked if the name belonged to a friend and she told me that it was her mother.
Her mother's name was not on the original list from the Coroner, but had been brought to my attention by a fellow advocate that knew the woman. It happens every year that names are left off of the list for one reason or another. I go through a verification process to make sure that the name belongs on the wall. I was able to verify the name about a day or so before the event.
I had no idea the the daughter would show up at the event, so when the girl told me she was the woman's daughter, I was immediately choked-up. I hugged the girl and told her that I was so sorry for her loss. She told me that she was okay and that she had been raised by her grandparents and that her mother had promised that she would quit drugs and that they would get a place so that the two could be together again, but that never happened. Despite being disappointed for many years, the girl still loved her mother very much. She told me that she couldn't believe that anyone besides she and her family would care for her mother enough to honor her in a memorial service. She said that she attended our event just so she could see her mother's name on our wall with her own eyes and that she was interested in meeting the person responsible for making that happen.
It's special moments of inspiration like this that motivate me to continue organizing this event for as many years as necessary in the future until our greatest hopes are fulfilled and no person loses their life to homelessness ever again.
View a list of homeless persons that died in 2018 here.
Download the list below.
Download list below.
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