The Fall River Homeless Service Providers Coalition held its seventh annual candlelight vigil in recognition of National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week on the steps of St Anne Shrine on November 20, 2008. Recognizing the increasing numbers of people seeking food assistance and shelter in the City with the recent economic downturn, Coalition chairperson Susan Jenkinson hoped the event would increase awareness of the need for additional resources. Inspirational stories were offered by two people about their own experience of homelessness and the help that was offered to them. The program on the frigid evening ended with a benediction by Rev. Donald Mier of the First Baptist Church. Work continues on a ten year plan to end homelessness through the City's Department of Health and Human Services. Shelter will be offered to homeless individuals through the First Step Inn on North Main Street and the Salvation Army on Bedford street during January and February. Click here for the Herald News article about the vigil. Click here for photos of the 2006 vigil and here for photos of the 2005 vigil. For more information, contact Susan Jenkinson at 508-679-2109.
 

(Top row, left) Saint Anne's Hospital Project Assert coordinator Dan Mahoney greets Rev. Mier in front of the St. Anne's Shrine on South Main Street. (Top row, center) Natalie Ayala from the First Step Inn holds a candle in a cold wind that kept it from staying lit. (Top row, right) Homeless Service Providers Coalition chairperson Susan Jenkinson welcomed the crowd to the vigil. (Middle row, left) Major Butch Deming of the Salvation Army reads scripture about the importance of caring for the poor. (Middle row, right)  Sabrina Brophy, 31, homeless in Fall River for seven months before finding her way into a residential program, speaks about her own experience of homelessness while her two small children stand next to her. (Bottom row, left) Rebecca Campbell holds her ten-year-old daughter, Janessa, as they stand next to her grandmother, Beverly Bundy who works at the Respite Program at the Corrigan Mental Health Center. (Bottom row, right) St. Frances House resident Deborah Emerson, a diabetic, tells her story of sleeping in the back room of a store she was managing.