By: Yuritza Arroyo
The realities of homelessness affected at least 667 people in Union County in late January alone this year, according to the federally-mandated Point-in-Time (PIT) report from Monarch Housing Associates.
According officials, Union County organizers are continuing a tradition on December 22nd to gather with the community in memory of all those who died this year and were unhoused.
The Union County Homeless Persons Memorial Vigil will take place at 7 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in Rahway.
Community Access Unlimited, Union County Interfaith Coordinating Council, and The Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless organize the event.
The vigil brings together faith leaders and organizations working to prevent and end homelessness in our area.
All are invited, and attendees are encouraged to bring donations of coats and jackets or new socks and gloves for the Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless.
Zion Church is also organizing distribution of food, jackets, socks and shoes earlier in the day on the 22nd, from 1-4 p.m. before the event in cooperation with the Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless. Organizers also plan to help people in need register for social services.
“Folks should come to the Union County Homeless Person's Vigil to remember people in our community who have been forgotten, forgotten even to the point of death,” said Rev. Carmine Pernini, UCICC organizer and pastor of Zion Lutheran Church.
“We will remember, name, and memorialize homeless people who have died. As a community, remembering those whom others have forgotten is a powerful act which declares that everyone has value in this life, regardless of a person's balance in their bank accounts or whether or not people own property.”
Zion Lutheran Church will reopen its winter homeless shelter this month in the church's social hall, which is an overnight shelter for up to 15 people.
Pernini added that citizens can help fight homelessness by advocating for affordable and transitional housing to their city councils and other local elected officials.
Housing scarcity remains a major problem in America.
In New Jersey alone, the 2022 PIT report found that 8,754 persons were experiencing homelessness in late January. Union County contained the second-highest percentage of the state’s unhoused population after Essex County. The results of the report help determine federal funding to programs for people experiencing homelessness.