Upper Peninsula Agencies to Host Events for Homeless Awareness Week
MARQUETTE, Mich. – November has been proclaimed as Homeless Awareness Month. As the state observes, promising data shows the number of Michiganders experiencing homelessness is declining.
According to data from Michigan’s homeless management information system, 8,351 people statewide experience homelessness on a given night, and in the Upper Peninsula, 1,413 experience homelessness. There has been a slight decline in the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Michigan from 65,104 in 2018 to 61,832 in 2019.
Several organizations in the Marquette area, such as Room at the Inn, Superior Housing Solutions and Lutheran Social Services are organizing events to help get the community involved and raise the awareness
Event organizer Kim Frost says, “We have a responsibility to each other, and that includes people who are housed and people who are unhoused. The people who are homeless they are brothers, sisters, aunts or uncles. They’re people because of a variety of circumstances have ended up unsheltered or in very precarious housing situations.”
Being able to humanize the concept of homelessness and build a human connection with all those affected.
“We can throw dollars at it, we can have agencies working hard, but what makes the biggest difference is the community. When the community really invests in the homeless population, and participates in the process towards helping stabilizing people and eradicating it in your community.”
The events are to begin on November 15th and go through the 22nd.
November 15th-16th (3 p.m.-5 p.m.): Author Address and Book Signing, Justin Wilder Doering – “Fifty Sandwiches” Marquette Commons
November 16th-20th (5 p.m. – 8 p.m.): Escape Room Marquette
November 21st (9 a.m.): – Awareness Walk, YMCA of Marquette
November 22nd (1 p.m.): – Awareness Walk, Binsfeld Bayshore Park Pavilion