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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Partners in Care sponsored a candlelight vigil at the state Capitol last night to commemorate National Homelessness Awareness Week. Participants, who marched from Fort Street Mall, included Maile-Lani Cortado and her brother, Kamuala. Both were with their mother, Minda Cortado. About 150 people attended the vigil.




Vigil calls attention
to Hawaii homeless

The 9/11 relief fund helped
many families stay off the streets

Isle donations up


By Genevieve A. Suzuki
gsuzuki@starbulletin.com

More than 150 people lit candles last night during a vigil in front of the State Capitol to help raise awareness of the plight of the homeless.

Case managers, social workers, AmeriCorps volunteers and homeless people participated in the vigil, which began with a march down Beretania Street from Fort Street Mall.

"People are people. No matter where you live, there will always be homelessness," said Henry E.F. McCullough V, a volunteer consumer advocate for people suffering from homelessness and mental illness. "They're in need and they need love and compassion."

This is National Homelessness Awareness Week.

With Thanksgiving only a week away, it is important to be aware of how many people are homeless in Hawaii, said Laura Thielen, project coordinator for the Kalihi-Palama Health Center's Health Care for the Homeless Program.

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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Also at the vigil were, from left, Punahou students Kylee Kurita, Heather Williams, Jessica Siu, Shelby Ono-Siou, Kirsten Kadoyama, Isabella Hughes and Robyn Fukumoto.




"Any holidays are difficult for homeless individuals, especially homeless individuals with children," said Rebecca Anderson, homeless-grant coordinator for Partners in Care, a coalition committed to ending homelessness and sponsor of the event.

"But it's really important to remember people are homeless, people are hungry, people don't have medical care all year round."

Sandra Miyoshi, the state's administrator for homeless programs, said the state provides services to 11,200 homeless families and individuals.

The National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty named Honolulu one of the 12 meanest cities for the homeless in January.

"Honolulu's pretty bad, but I don't think it's any meaner than any other major city," said ReAnderson.

Last December, the state began cutting privileges for people who had been receiving welfare benefits for five years. In 1997 the federal government put a five-year lifetime limit on public assistance.

"It's definitely hurt a lot of people," Anderson said. "What we're seeing from a lot of people are families getting cut off from welfare."

From Dec. 1, 2001, to Sept. 30, a total of 2,712 families lost welfare privileges, according to Kristine Foster, an administrator with the state Department of Human Services.

About 130 families a month lose benefits, Foster said. The average family losing benefits consists of one adult and two children.

But things are better this year than they were last year, said Miyoshi.

She said the $1 million state legislators appropriated for people who were economically affected by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks helped keep the numbers of homeless down.

More than 4,000 families received short-term relief from the emergency assistance fund, also known as the Eagle Fund. "The Eagle Fund staved off homelessness for a lot of people," Miyoshi said.



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