Community members gathered on the longest night of the year, Dec. 21, to honor National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day in an event hosted by the City of Eugene on the Winter Solstice. Attendees laughed, cried, sang and embraced one another in remembrance of people who have died on the streets in Lane County, with the list of names evolving as community members were invited to add those not initially included.

Hosted by Eugene’s Human Rights Commission Poverty and Homelessness Workgroup, the memorial began with a resource fair inside the Farmers Market Pavilion in downtown Eugene, offering warm socks, winter hats, hand warmers and other cold-weather supplies for people living on the streets. Kiva Grocery donated vegan chili to the vigil, which was served by volunteers.

John Bradley, Human Rights Commission liaison to the Eugene Police Commission, says to Eugene Weekly, “It’s on the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, in the effort to bring attention to people who are homeless and on the street, experiencing homelessness, right now.”

The memorial included a classical guitar performance by Denver, Colorado-based musician James Garcia and an opening number by the Raging Grannies, an activist choir group in Eugene known for rewriting hymns to reflect social change. The Raging Grannies opened and closed the night with lyrics such as “silent night, sleepless night. I have a tent but there’s no site,” performed as “Homeless Silent Night.” The group shared lyric sheets with the gathered crowd, inviting attendees to sing along.

“Very excited to have the Raging Grannies here to provide some music for the event and this year, we have designed the service to focus in on people with lived experience and people who are delivering services,” Bradley says. “One of the concerns that was brought up from last year’s was that there was concern that the city was often obligated to addressing things like property crime has been involved in the displacement of people experiencing homelessness, and in camp sweeps and other interventions that have resulted in negative interactions and experiences for people experiencing homelessness.”

Bradley was referring to last year’s memorial, which was attended by then-Mayor Lucy Vinis, raising concerns among some community members and resulting in chili being thrown toward her amid an outcry that the mayor was part of the problem.

He says the mayor’s office was not typically part of the event and that “It was a request from the Homelessness and Poverty Board and of the Human Rights Commission to invite the mayor to read the names in the effort to bring attention to these individuals.” He adds, “I think that effort was lost on some members of the advocacy community who saw it as an insult. The intention was to elevate the issue to those with the most authority and power to influence policy and law,” Bradley says.

In response, Bradley says organizers shifted the focus of this year’s memorial to center on the voices of people with “lived experience.” The names of individuals who lost their lives on the streets were read by members of the Raging Grannies, with a bell rung after each name. Homeless advocate Julie Lambert served as the name reader, and Trudy Maloney rang the bell, reading off 23 names. 

According to the Oregon Health Authority’s “domicile unknown” deaths, 49 people died unhoused in Lane County in 2025 as of September, with October’s deaths still being processed. 

William Perry, who says he has been living on the streets due to systemic failures, lost many friends while unhoused. “Usually it’s from either an assault or somebody attacking them and stabbing them, drugs
or weather. I mean, those are the three main things I see.” 

Perry says, “It’s harder than hell because people keep stealing and robbing from each other so much that it’s… It’s just hard to get from point A to point B when your transportation is stolen. Like, my bike was just stolen today again.”

A friend of Perry’s, who goes only by L.J., and who also lives on the street, says, “We all are out here trying to survive and trying to make sure we are able to even be out here by policing ourselves…” L.J. says he started a group he calls ‘the impact crew’ to help change public perceptions and clean up encampments, adding, “The garbage piling up and the drug use are what people notice most in the public eye. The group and I are trying to clean that up.”

“I just wanted to use drugs all day, all night, just so that I don’t have to sleep, so I don’t have to get stopped by the cops,” he adds. “And that sucks, we shouldn’t have to feel like we have to get high and stay up all night and walk and go around in the rain, ’cause if we stop anywhere for two seconds, we’re in trouble.”

The names of the unhoused people who have passed that were read at the city of Eugene’s vigil.

Douglas B.
Candice K.
Rob B.
Kenneth H.
Cora S.
Richard S.
Tom
Garrett
Amy S.
Mark T.
Lucky
Mark C.
Belinda G.
Willie S.
Garrett B.
Oliver D.
Hunter, aka Trapper
Joshua T.
T.J.
Gigi
Aaron J.
Tommy A.
Martha B.