Friends, family remember lost loved ones during Fargo Homeless Memorial

FARGO — The longest night of the year on Saturday, Dec. 21, was marked with the annual memorial for people in the metro area who in the last year died while homeless. About 80 people walked a solemn procession in freezing weather in downtown Fargo holding candles and carrying a coffin.

They were joined by dozens more at First Lutheran Church, 619 Broadway N. While those gathered inside the warmth of the church talked and ate, a slideshow shuffled through photos of the 37 people whose lives were cut short by homelessness this year. Many of the photos showed people smiling next to loved ones or holding a pet in their arms.



Others are dressed in uniforms for a military photo. Their names were added to a list of 394 names that has been kept since 1999 to memorialize those lost to homelessness in the metro. Many people in the room Saturday night shared memories of those they lost this year.

Overcome with emotion, Arlanda Zaste nevertheless stood with her family to remember her mother, her auntie and more loved ones who they have lost. “My soul is hurt but I don’t need you guys to pity me,” she said. “I’m hurt the most because I remember everybody and I can’t let them go.

” Live each day with your whole being, she said, and never take the people in your life for granted. She thanked everyone for coming to the memorial, with special gratitude for the service providers. Play on, Zaste told the Buffalo River Singers, because this is what her soul needed.

Mike Gabbard, one of the Buffalo River Singers, said, “As a person who was homeless, briefly, I know the struggle and heartache." This annual walk in the cold darkness is just a small taste of what it’s like to be homeless and dealing with the harsh northern winters, he said. For over a century, people who are indigenous to the lands now known as North Dakota and Minnesota have known what it's like to be cold and hungry, he said, uprooted from their homes.

Still, today, Indigenous people are disproportionately represented among the homeless population, he said. The drummers sang two songs, one to honor those who fight and one to remember those who were lost. “There are many people that fight that battle and many that suffer through it,” Gabbard said.

Statistically, the lives of people experiencing homelessness will be shorter than other metro residents, FM Coalition to End Homelessness Director Chandler Esslinger said, noting that they face many health challenges and dangers while unhoused. “What can I say that has yet to be said? When will enough be enough?” Esslinger said. “Caring is not good enough.

We must demand change. We must hold our leaders accountable.” So many people are being let down and left behind by the systems that are supposed to help them, she said.

It’s not enough to just remember those that have died this year, Esslinger said, calling on people to fight for the living. The longest night of the year is inescapable, she said, but the deaths are not. “A different future is possible,” Esslinger said.

“A better future awaits us. We have to seize it.” Next year, Pastor Devlyn Brooks said, there will be more names to add to this list.

Brooks is the executive director at Churches United for the Homeless. By working together, this community can save lives, he said. “This isn’t political.

This isn’t religious. This is just what we are called to do by our creator,” Brooks said. “Love thy neighbor.

”.