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Sunset Ceremony Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Sunset through the Tree of LifeWHEEL and the Homeless Remembrance Project invite you to gather at our Tree of Life in Victor Steinbrueck Park at 8:30 PM Tuesday, July 23rd, just before sunset.  AT sunset, 8:55 PM, we’ll sponsor a brief Ritual to honor and remember those who’ve died this year, and then we’ll have an inspiriting Call to Action!

This Sunset Ritual and Call-to-Action are part of a 24-hour-long demonstration at Victor Steinbrueck Park (north of Pike Place Market, noon Tuesday, July 23rd to noon Wednesday July 24th) sponsored by a coalition to Occupy the Committee to End Homelessness in King County (CEHKC).  For more than a year, Occupy CEHKC has worked to get the Governing Board of CEHKC to get real, and to support survival shelters including encampments, car camps and other innovative efforts that keep people alive TONIGHT while we wait for affordable housing.

We’ve now found out that the July 24th CEHKC Quarterly Governing Board Meeting has been CANCELLED due to members’ vacation schedules.  We will proceed with our 24-hour demonstration at Victor Steinbrueck Park, since for homeless people, there’s no holiday.

Here’s why:  At least 25 people have died outside or by violence in King County already in 2013, compared to just 13 deaths in the same period in 2012.  This year so far, three homeless people have been murdered, three died by suicide, one person burned to death, one drowned, and one woman was found dead of hypothermia in January, on the night of the One Night Count of unsheltered homeless people.   Nearly a quarter of the deaths this year have been women.  These stark facts should shock the conscience, and spur us all on to doing more to provide survival shelter to all who need it.

We urge you to join us next Tuesday and Wednesday at Victor Steinbrueck Park.  In addition to the Sunset Ritual at the “Tree of Life” we urge you to attend a Rally of our Coalition at 5:30 PM Tuesday, July 23rd and again around 7:30 AM Wednesday morning, July 24th, when we will march from the park to a nearby meeting location and facilitate our OWN End-Homelessness Meeting.

For more information about the Occupy CEHKC Coalition and our July 23-24 schedule call WHEEL at (206) 956-0334 or email wheelorg@yahoo.com.

Thank you for your support and solidarity!


 

 

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