On the longest night of the year — or the winter solstice — New London and Norwich residents memorialized people Wednesday who have died in the past year and at one point experienced homelessness.

Wednesday night’s vigil saw residents, clergy and political figures gathered at New London’s All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregation church. Sponsored by St. Francis House and the New London Homeless Hospitality Center, the event remembered homeless and formerly homeless residents of New London County who have died in the last year.

Norwich held a concurrent event at St. Vincent de Paul Place soup kitchen to remember local homeless who died in the past year and formerly homeless people who died in the last year in the greater Norwich area. In all, 18 people were memorialized. A group of more than 20 people gathered in the parking lot to share stories of lives lost while holding lanterns.

Part of the annual Homeless Persons' Memorial Day service held each year in locations across the country on the first day of winter and the longest night of the year, the event also serves as a call to action to end homelessness in the city and nation.

Connecticut saw a 13% rise in homelessness statewide from 2021 to 2022 according to a state report released in October. Affordable housing is scant in the region outside of New London, Norwich and Groton.

Executive Director of the Homeless Hospitality Center Cathy Zall said that the event “helps people connect with the human face of homelessness.”

“These are people’s sisters and children and mothers and grandparents,” Zall said Wednesday. “Obviously the key thing is to be there and to provide all possible help while people are still alive, but I think there’s something poignant about just remembering the number of our neighbors who’ve experienced homelessness that’s had some impact on their lives, and they’ve passed. I think that’s why we focus on the names. There’s a long list of names, and that’s very specific. These are all individual people with individual lives, individual histories, joys and sorrows.”

Zall noted that the New London event is not a list of people who died while they were homeless this year, but rather people who died this year and had experienced homelessness in their lives. Still, there are usually a few people who die while unhoused in New London County. Zall said this year that there is at least one person on the list who died while homeless.

“Not only with our help, with a lot of their own effort, they were housed, but their period of homelessness had some impact on them,” Zall said.

Zall said that she’s noticed that “people who are experiencing homelessness are sort of invisible.”

“Every year there’s important people in the city who say, ‘Oh, I was in chorus with that person when we were in high school,’” Zall said. “Or, ‘I worked with that person.’ Or, ‘They used to live near me.’ Or, ‘I knew their mom.’”

“I can’t read their minds, but I do think when people come, they see the list, there’s somebody on that list that they know. It’s not politics with a capital ‘p,’ but it’s part of the whole effort to say, ‘These are our neighbors, these are people we know, these are people we grew up with,’” Zall added. “I think that’s an important part of our advocacy strategy.”

Mayor Michael Passero was in attendance Wednesday. He once again read a proclamation declaring Dec. 21 Homeless Persons Memorial Day “in recognition of people who died homeless in and around New London.”

“The National Health Care for the Homeless Council tells us that the homeless epidemic began in the 80s. And so now we’ve had a generation who have lived knowing about people living homeless in our cities and on our streets,” Passero said. “It’s important we try and fight this growing epidemic even though more and more people today are living without housing.”

All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregation minister Rev. Carolyn Patierno led a prayer outdoors to begin proceedings.

“We honor all friends whose lives were cut short, and we commit to lifting up their memory with compassion and care,” Patierno said.

Nicole Thomas and Kate Griffith read the list of 17 names of those lost in the New London area in 2022.

Everyone gathered sang “Peace, Salaam, Shalom” on the way back into the church. The 17 names were read again, this time with the ringing of a small gong after each name. Several people in attendance then lit candles for those who were lost in previous years.

During remembrances, Patierno said she wanted to remember the first two homeless people who died since city organizations began recording the statistic in 2006: Bill Walsh and Danny Worobel.

“I just want to remember Danny and Bill, the first two who died so many years ago. Their lives were not lived in vain. So much compassion rose up in the wake of those tragic deaths,” Patierno said.

After musical performances and a benediction, Zall closed with remarks. She said that the reason the list of people who experienced homelessness grew longer as years went by is “not because more people are experiencing homelessness, but because more people are being seen.”

s.spinella@theday.com