Memorial Service for Homeless Who Died in the Cold - Thursday 2/11 - 10:30 AM

The memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Church of the Reconciler (corner of 2nd Ave North and 14th Street) for Lisa Coburn, 51, who died in a tent Jan. 19 at a homeless camp, and Jimmy "Pops" Smith, who was in his 70s, who died in his van on Feb. 6. "We are calling for clergy to join us ... to show that the lives of homeless people are valuable and precious," said Rachael Martin, assistant pastor.

The regular CAC subcommittee meeting on homelessness will take place at Church of the Reconciler as we accompany the homeless and other advocates--this time for a real funeral. It is one thing to hold a mock funeral, as we did for the 10 Year Plan in October; but quite another to have to hold a real one for people whose deaths would most probably have been prevented if the long-delayed plan had been implemented.

The Birmingham News story, on page 1 of the Local News,Homeless advocates call for Birmingham to act on chronic homelessness in city, includes links to the 10-Year Plan and to the upcoming Homeless Summit. Part of the story is pasted below. It was gratifying to read more supportive than ignorant comments on the story, but they also showed how much public education still needs to be done.