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As part of the National Union of the Homeless Winter Offensive Organizing Drive we hold memorials on December 21st annually to memorialize and honor our people who have died on the streets and from this unjust system as well as declare a call to action to unite, organize and fight for our human rights and put an end to deaths in the streets! The Lancaster, PA community has lost members from our unhoused and the LGBTQIA community, as well as those who have died while or due to incarceration at Lancaster County Prison or because they were denied their right to basic human needs of survival.
We know it's hard to lose someone you love and it's especially hard this time of year when struggling with a loss of a loved one.
You don't have to go through the struggle alone. Join us and our partners in coming together as a community on December 21st to memorialize those we have lost and demand we put an end to this death dealing system!
MISTICA: COMMUNITY ALTAR
We welcome you to bring a photo or other item representing someone you have lost to place on the altar as part of the program. You will be able to take the photo or item home with you.
Join us Sunday December 21st 6-7:30pm at the Historic Salem UCC 324 Walnut St Columbia, PA for this year's Longest Night Memorial and you're welcome to stay after the program to socialize and enjoy refreshments.
NATIONAL UNION OF THE HOMELESS 2025 WINTER OFFENSIVE STATEMENT
During the Holiday Season The National Union of the Homeless comes together across 5 U.S. regions (the South, Appalachia, Midwest, West and the Northeast) to declare: Housing and Healthcare NOW. An End to Genocide and the War Economy! No more death on the streets both here and abroad!
The Homeless Union’s Winter Offensive is a series of synchronized actions and protests that take place from Thanksgiving through Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday in order to highlight the time of year when the poor and homeless experience the most deadly conditions and the highest rates of suicide and death.
We work together to fulfill our mission statement, declaring that “we commit our lives to ending homelessness and poverty and to work tirelessly for the human right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for social and economic justice for all.”
As our Leader Dr Rev Savina cries “At a time when they sing Peace on Earth our land groans under the weight of injustice!” Again we shout: HOUSING AND HEALTHCARE NOW! NO MORE DEATH ON THE STREETS BOTH HERE AND ABROAD!
As we enter 2026 we are also feeling the deadly effects of the June 28, 2024 Supreme Court decision Grant’s Pass v. Johnson, as well as executive orders by state governors and the President that further criminalize homelessness and poverty. We are seeing an increase in the deadly practice of sweeps and in the incarceration of our homeless communities.
Simultaneously we are facing massive cuts to benefit programs like Medicaid and SNAP. Hospitals continue to close while we build new prisons and forced labor camps for the unhoused and terrorize and imprison undocumented workers. Our nation's military budget nearing one trillion dollars annually. Sixty (60%) percent of the United States population reports they are struggling to make ends meet while the top ten billionaires grew their collective wealth by $698 billion dollars in the last year alone.
We know there's enough food to feed everyone and that there are 24 empty homes for every single individual in need of one while 1000 souls will freeze to death on the streets this year and homelessness and poverty continues to rise at record numbers! We declare NO MORE.
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has shown that poverty is the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S., and 800 people die every day in the richest country that’s ever existed in the history of the world! Our system is FAILING - and we are DYING as a result of a system that puts PROFIT over our lives. We mourn, lift up and honor the names of those we’ve lost.
Join us, the National Union of the Homeless and the Nonviolent Medicaid Army, as we organize to unite our class to end this system that profits from poverty, homelessness and death and to create a society organized around our human rights to health, housing, food and lives of dignity so that we can together thrive, not merely survive.
YOU ONLY GET WHAT YOU ARE ORGANIZED TO TAKE!
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Historic Salem United Church of Christ, Columbia PA, 324 Walnut St (PO: 429),Columbia, Pennsylvania, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
