January 07, 2011, People of St. Paul's (42), Church (77), City & Commonwealth (63), In the News (Richmond) (74)
Posted by Kimberly Allen
As Wallace+ often remarks, St. Paul's partnership with Homeward to help address, reduce, and end homelessness is central to our mission of proclaiming Christ in the heart of the city.
Just before Christmas, on December 21, Homeward organized a Memorial Vigil at St. Paul's to remember those who died without homes in Richmond in 2010. The service was one of hundreds that took place nationwide as part of National Homeless Persons Memorial Day. Wallace+ offered an opening homily, followed by a reading of the names of the deceased with The Rev. Tyrone Nelson, pastor of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, Richmond's cold weather emergency overflow shelter.
In her closing remarks, Kelly King Horne, Homeward's Executive Director, urged those present to recommit themselves to helping prevent and end homelessness in 2011. With the New Year comes a new opportunity to get involved. Homeward is currently recruiting volunteers for the 13th Winter Point-in-Time Count at St. Paul's later this month on Thursday, January 27 (9 am - 1:30 pm).
Click on "read more" to jump to additional information about the vigil and this volunteer opportunity.
Photos courtesy of Mark Gormus, Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Tags: emmaus, homeless, homeward, memorial garden, richmond times-dispatch
December 21, 2010, People of St. Paul's (42), Christianity (85), City & Commonwealth (63), In the News (Richmond) (74), Love (17)
Posted by Kimberly Allen
Thank you to all those who attended this afternoon's Homeless Persons Memorial Vigil in the St. Paul's Memorial Garden, sponsored by Homeward. It was a poignant service as Wallace+ and the Rev. Tyrone Nelson of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church read the names of 17 individuals who died without homes in Richmond this year. The church bells tolled and candles were lit in honor of each life.
In his homily, Wallace+ described the importance of remembering each life:
We remember those who have died, and we hope that by remembering them, that we would also raise awareness—raise consciousness—in our community; that hearts might be moved, and that minds might be opened, so that metropolitan Richmond would become more the compassionate community that God yearns for us to be.
Words from the priest and poet John Donne speak to us now, reminding us of the unalterable bonds that all human beings share. With some gentle editing, Donne’s short mediation, “No man is an island”:
No man, or woman, or child, is an island entire to itself; every woman, every man, and every child is a piece of the continent, a part of the mainland; if a clod be washed away by the sea, America is the less, Richmond is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if any of one’s friends or one’s own family were; any man, woman, or child’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in humanity.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Click on read more for the full remarks.
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Tags: emmaus, homeless, homeward
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