Pinellas faith groups remember those who died while homeless in 2025 with memorial service: 'Dignity in death'

Remembering those who died while homeless

Faith groups in Pinellas County wanted to give the community a way to remember those who died this year while experiencing homelessness. FOX 13's Briona Arradondo reports.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Faith groups in Pinellas County wanted to give the community a way to remember those who died this year while experiencing homelessness.

The backstory:

The public and outreach groups paid their respects on Friday at a church in downtown St. Petersburg to honor those in the homeless community who died this year.

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"Every person is a precious child of God. And as a society, we don't treat people who are poor, marginalized or homeless that way most of the time. And, it's that we offer that dignity in death," said Sam Picard, the pastor at Missio Dei Community church in St. Pete.

Church leaders like Picard with the Celebrate Outreach coalition reflected on their life stories of the 44 people who died, sharing reminders of their humanity.

"Some people describe it as extremely painful when people walk past them and don't even acknowledge their presence, pretend that they don't exist," said Picard.

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What they're saying:

Name after name of men and women echoed in the church as they were read out loud during the memorial service.

"They are my neighbors. They are the people I associate with," said Eric Peters, who attended the service. "I've been coming to this service for about six years, well, longer than that. I was coming when they were doing it at another church, so we're talking like eight years."

Peters is also homeless, and he said attending Friday’s service was important to honor his friends.

"Some of these people have no family. Or if they have family, they're not connected to them. And to remember them, so that they're not forgotten," said Peters. "Where I have difficulty with is when I recognize or know there's somebody on the list. That really touches me."

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What you can do:

Celebrate Outreach has organized the memorial service for 18 years, always close to the longest night of the year, December 21. The memorial service provides moments that are the only chance for laying flowers and mourning those who died.

"It's a scandal to me that, in a country as wealthy as ours, that we allow homelessness to continue. We don't have to and that's a choice," said Picard.

As counties like Pinellas struggle with affordability, those experiencing homelessness urged others to be kind and show some care.

"Just remember these are people. They might be unhoused, but they are people too. Try to find some empathy in your heart to change your mind about how you think about homelessness. Because, anybody can become homeless in an instant," said Peters.

The outreach groups said they’re always looking for volunteers to help serve meals and take donations.