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For each life lost, a candle lit

By MICHAEL A. MOHAMMED
Published December 22, 2006

TAMPA - B.J. Johns meets a lot of homeless people in her job as a social worker for the Faith Cafe and the Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church.

Each year, some of the familiar faces disappear.

Johns joined a crowd of about 125 religious leaders, aid workers and homeless people in downtown Tampa on Thursday lighting a candle for each person who had succumbed to street life this year in Hillsborough County.

She remembered Sean McCarthy, whose struggle with substance abuse was thwarted because he couldn't get into a treatment program without an ID.

But, Johns said, he couldn't get ID without a birth certificate - and couldn't get a birth certificate without ID.

And she remembered "Hollywood" Johnson, a popular face in the Faith Cafe who had begun to explore religion but succumbed to drug addiction during a trip to Miami.

Organized by the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County, the ceremony in the park opposite the County Center echoed over a hundred other candlelight vigils held across the country Thursday to commemorate National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day.

"These are people. They are not objects," said the Rev. Ken Whitten of Idlewild Baptist Church at the ceremony's invocation. "No one can replace these people."

After the ceremony, volunteers handed out blankets, backpacks and bags of hygiene supplies to homeless people.

The 48 candles lit at the vigil represent a nearly 25 percent increase over the 39 at last year's ceremony.

However, it can be difficult to tell whether the increase reflects a rise in the number of deaths, or in the rate at which they are reported.

"We're doing a better job about learning about their deaths," said Lesa Weikel, a spokeswoman for the coalition. "People are more aware of this event and notify the coalition office of people who have passed away from homelessness."

One difference, she added, is that she has noticed more deaths from being hit by cars this year than in the past.

Worse, violence against homeless people is on the rise throughout the country - most of it committed by people who aren't homeless.

"Unfortunately, the prevailing reason is teenagers who don't value human life," Weikel said.

Scott Felts, 30, had dark scabs on his face from a robbery and beating in Gibsonton. He said he had walked to Tampa because the services are better and he thinks it is safer.

"It's much worse outside the city," he said.

A 2005 coalition survey counted 11,023 homeless people in Hillsborough, the sixth largest population of homeless people in the country. The county has enough services for only 15 percent of that number, according to the coalition.

Michael A. Mohammed can be reached at mmohammed@sptimes.com or 813 226-3404.

[Last modified December 22, 2006, 05:48:53]