PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) — Barbra Weber lost her son in 2022 to a fentanyl overdose. That led her to co-found Ground Score , one of the 10 organizations working together in the Portland region to remember friends and family who died while homeless on the National Homeless Persons Memorial Day.
Each year on the winter solstice, communities around the country gather to remember those who lost their lives without a home. Several cities in Oregon are among the communities who gathered for special ceremonies, adding names of those who died to a memorial wall made out of tents.
Multnomah County homeless deaths in 2023 show ‘devastating toll’ of fentanyl crisis: Report
“I think that we see poverty. We want to sweep poverty away to where we can’t see it,” Weber said. “And sometimes that puts a lot of pressure on people that are struggling, you know? And so I think that we have to bring compassion.”
Liz Starkey, the development director for Rose Haven — another of the 10 groups involved in this project locally — said, “tonight is for Ingrid and Trish and Ariel, all of which were Rose Haven guests that we’re really, really going to miss.”