Wendell Mundrow knew him as Anthony, a fellow middle-aged man living on the street. Mundrow, 50, remembers sharing space at a lot near a downtown federal building two years ago with Anthony, where the two swapped stories about life and the circumstances that left each without a place to stay.
Last night, Mundrow attended a memorial service and candlelight vigil at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater for Anthony and dozens of others who died this year while living on the streets of Baltimore
"He died because he was homeless. He was great, a real loving and kind person," Mundrow said. "There wasn't nothing he wouldn't do in spite of his situation. He still went out of his way to do for other folks."
At a service punctuated by religious songs, advocates for the homeless read the names of 47 people who have died in Baltimore since January. Baltimore County held a similar memorial service yesterday at Franklin Square Hospital Center.
Advocates nationwide have observed National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day for about 20 years on or about Dec. 21 - generally the first day of winter and the longest night of the year. More than 100 communities were expected to hold events across the country.
The Baltimore service - organized by Stop Homelessness and Reduce Poverty, a coalition of service providers - was held, in part, to raise awareness of the city's homeless.
City officials have estimated that 3,000 people spend any given night on the street, and advocates say that about 30,000 people in Baltimore were without a home at some point this year.
Officials from Healthcare for the Homeless say that, statewide, about 50,000 people spend at least one night on the street a year, a number derived from emergency and transitional shelter data and the numbers of those turned away from temporary housing. Nationally, about 7 percent of the population will live part of their life on the street, advocates say.
The Rev. David Flaherty of First United Evangelical Church in Fells Point gave the main address at the Inner Harbor service, where about 100 people gathered.
"We can't fix this tonight, but we can stand still in the cold and dark and pray," he said. "But before we can do that, we have to remember these folks that in the city of Baltimore over the last 365 nights were not gathered in."
Mundrow said he spent about 18 months without a place to stay, starting in 2006. He said he is now off drugs and no longer is homeless.
