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Photos: remembering the people in Seattle who died in 2020 while experiencing houselessness

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Slideshow Icon1 of 10Outreach worker Rebecca Gilley, center, holds a candle during the WHEEL Women in Black vigil for the record-breaking 139 houseless people who’ve died outside, in public or by violence this year in King County on Monday, December 21, 2020, at Seattle City Hall.
Credit: KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer

On Monday, in the biting cold and rain, the Women in Black of WHEEL (Women’s Housing, Equality and Enhancement League) held a vigil for those who died this year while living on and off of Seattle's streets. Monday, December 21, is designated "National Homeless Persons Memorial Day" by the National Coalition for the Homeless.

On the darkest day of the year a small group stood in the pounding rain in Seattle City Hall Plaza to honor the lives of over a hundred people who died this year while experiencing houselessness.

The names of 139 people were read aloud shortly after sunset Monday. After each name the crowd responded, "we remember you." The Women in Black of WHEEL said in 2020 the group honored more unsheltered people who died outside or by violence in a single year than ever before.

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