Healthcare provider Mercy Care held a memorial on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, for the 176 people who died while homeless in Fulton and DeKalb counties in 2024. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
This past year, 176 people died while homeless in Fulton and DeKalb counties, according to Mercy Care, a healthcare provider for people who are homeless.
The organization hosted a memorial Thursday night to honor those who passed.
Nearly 100 people gathered outside the Mercy Care building along Decatur Street near downtown. The Atlanta Homeward Choir, whose members include those who are unhoused, sang “Amazing Grace” as MARTA trains passed in the background.
The Atlanta Homeward Choir performs at the Robert L. Mason, Jr. Candlelight Memorial on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Rev. Yolanda Davis, manager of spiritual care at Mercy Care, led the group in a prayer.
“We lift up in prayer our brothers and sisters, young and old, who daily walk the streets of our city with their possessions on their backs, in their bags, in search of life’s basic necessities,” she said.
Davis said the purpose of the memorial is simple: to speak the names of humans who lived on this earth.
Healthcare provider Mercy Care held a memorial on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, for the 176 people who died while homeless in Fulton and DeKalb counties in 2024. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
As the audience lit candles, staff took turns listing the names and ages of each person who died. There were 60 more than the year before. Reading all of them took nearly 13 minutes. One name belonged to a two-year-old. One man was 99. One person was unidentified.
The speakers and members of the audience asked themselves which deaths could have been prevented. Among them was Tyrone Buggs. He was homeless and staying in Decatur Square until he recently found temporary housing.
“I feel sorry for those people that died,” he said. “That shouldn’t have to happen in the United States.”
Healthcare provider Mercy Care held a memorial on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, for the 176 people who died while homeless in Fulton and DeKalb counties in 2024. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
