By Paige Pelonis, CityHeART Art from Ashes Editor
Today, on CityHeART Radio’s Voices from THE HUB, I spent some time thinking out loud about what I believe has got to be the biggest challenge for our community today: homelessness. I was on my soap box a bit, I won’t lie, and it’s because the issue is so complex and layered that it’s easy to burn out on it, and it’s really easy to become frustrated about it…and I think that’s part of what makes it so unsolveable.
Yesterday at the Long Beach Homeless Coalition’s first general meeting of the year, I was blown away by the emotional toll simply discussing the challenges and barriers of this issue.
The Homeless Coalition hosts a memorial service every year where we light a candle and say the name of every person who died while living on the streets in that year, and the list of names has gotten longer every year that I have been a part of the service. Sitting in the meeting yesterday surrounded by people who are all trying their best to combat homelessness and support those without housing, I realized that part of the frustration is a feeling of helplessness. Me, my one single self, will never be able to do all that it will take to make that list get smaller. I can’t do all that needs to be done on my own, and sometimes it’s hard for me to even see the small amount of impact I am able to make on my own.
The helplessness that comes from knowing that in this effort, I can try my best over and over and over, and it will never be enough is exhausting and defeating. Weeping over the unfairness of how lucky I am to have a place to call home when so many do not is exhausting, and ultimately, fruitless.
As I left the meeting yesterday, I saw four single children’s shoes on the ground beside some left behind clothing. I wondered who they were, the children somewhere with only one shoe each. I wondered if these shoes and clothing were forgotten, accidentally left behind, or put there intentionally, perhaps discarded. I thought about how I’ll never know who used to own these items, and I thought about how if they were somewhere in need of love, support, food, clothing, etc. there was nothing I could do in that moment because I would never know. And the wave of defeating helplessness that comes from caring so much it hurts with no way to fix what’s broken just washed over me.
The Long Beach Homeless Coalition meets the first Wednesday of the month at 9am, and the episode of today’s show comes out in the CityHeARTLove app next week, so for now, these are the names of those we lost last year — I hope we continue to remember them all year long and long after that.
Lives Honored at the 2023 Long Beach Homeless Memorial
| CRYSTAL | WEBB |
| FAAFANUA | UTU |
| MESHELL | HARRIS |
| JOSE | ESTRADA PINEDA |
| BRENT | KOSTANSKI |
| JUSTIN | JAY |
| RICKY | TUGLER |
| TRIFON | PENNIMAN |
| ERNEST | MARTINEZ |
| ROSELYN | PIGRAM |
| JEREMIAH | JONES |
| RONNIE | JOHNSON |
| RAUL | CALIXTO |
| JORGE | SANCHEZ MENDOZA |
| DUSTIN | BUMSTEAD |
| SCOTT | TARPLEY |
| HENRY | RIDGEL |
| KEASHA | YOUNG |
| MICHAEL | MANDZIUK |
| DARREN | PORRITT |
| ALEJANDRO | TORRES |
| PATRICIA | BROCK |
| WARD | HEADLOUGH |
| MARCUS | DUNLAP |
| ERIN | KENNEDY |
| LISA | ISOM |
| WILLIE | GOADE |
| NULL | BABY BOY ABEDZADEH |
| FLOYD | VERDUN |
| JONAS | BETANCOURT |
| DANIELLE | SPEER |
| HAROLD | KIRKLAND |
| DEDRICK | BROWN |
| JOHNNY | RANGEL |
| ERIC | SEABROOKS |
| ISRAEL | GONZALEZ |
| CHRISTINA | RIVERA |
| JOSE | ARCE |
| DERRICK | GRAJEDA |
| FELINA | BECERRA |
| CARL | MENDLOW |
| ALFREDO | SILVA SANDOVAL |
| CESAR | ALVAREZ |
| JOSH | CADENA |
| MANUEL | RIVERA JR. |
| ANA | ANGON CABELLO |
| ASHLEY | TAYLOR |
| GLEN | GOSNELL |
| JOSEPH | URIOSTE JR |
| SHANE | GIBSON |
| JASON | SALGADO |
| ARTURO | BLACKBURN |
| LUIS | LOPEZ-MARTINEZ |
| CANAAN | OKATCH |
| ANGEL | PEREZ TORREZ |
| STEPHEN | CASH |
| ROY | FRAZIER |
| ROBIN | MACON |
| JASON | SHIKUMA |
| RAMON | ROCHA |
| GERALD | WALLING |
| LEO | RACHAL JR |
| MICHAEL | TOLOAI |
| CAMILO | NEVAREZ |
| ALBERTO | RODRIGUEZ |
| ATARI | BOOKER |
| VICTOR | RODRIGUEZ |
| KYLE | CLAYTOR |
| MICHAEL | SALA |
| BERNARDO | RAMIREZ |
| JOHN | SHAW |
| RANDALL | GRENKIE |
| RAMON | VELAZQUEZ |
| ROBERTO | RODRIGUEZ |
| TIMOTHY | LEWIS |
| KARIN | ROUMPOS |
| SOPHEA | PHOK |
| JAMIE | FAWKS |
| LARRY | SMITH |
| DAVID | RENFROW |
| TIMOTHY | HEBROCK |
| SHANNON | HIGHTOWER |
| LUIS | HERNANDEZ |
| ANDREY | JONES |
| RICHARD | GRECO |
| JOSE JUAN | BAEZA LOPEZ |
| DIANNA | HERNANDEZ |
| JOEL | KISHIMOTO |
| GERARDO | MANZO-ALVIS |
| DAVID | RIOS |
| WORRINGTON | STEWART |
| BRIAN | FLUHARTY |
| CHRIS | LEE |
| MALVIN | HAYS |
| TRACEY | MCCURDY |
| RALPH | SUAREZ |
| THOMAS | AGUILAR |
| JACK | HYNES |
| DAVID | BROWN |
| JESUS | RODRIGUEZ |
| Gregory | Odom |
| Cherie | Perez |
| Jesus | Santellana |
| Victor | Carlisle |
| Joe | Adams |
| Freeman | Houston Jr |
| Maria | Perez |
| David | Champion |
| Carl | Robinson |