FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Tammy Rosing | tammyrojas1977@gmail.com |
(717) 350-3224
Put People First! PA | putpeoplefirstpa.org
PUT PEOPLE FIRST! PA & NATIONAL UNION of the HOMELESS HOSTS ‘LONGEST NIGHT’ MEMORIAL COMMEMORATING ALL THOSE WHOSE LIVES WERE LOST TO POVERTY
DEMANDS TO STOP THE MEDICAID CUT-OFFS AND TO RESTORE THE ADULT DENTAL BENEFIT TO MEDICAID IN PENNSYLVANIA CONTINUES
WHO: The South Central Healthcare Rights Committee of Put People First! PA, a grassroots all-volunteer organization fighting to make healthcare a human right.
WHAT: The South Central Healthcare Rights Committee of Put People First! PA (PPF-PA) is hosting a memorial on the longest night of the year, also known as National Homeless Persons Memorial Day, to uplift the names and memories of all those we have lost due to this unjust system.
WHERE: Rivertown Pride Center located at 324 Walnut St in Columbia, PA
WHEN: December 21st , 4PM – 5:30PM
WHY: Put People First! has hosted a Longest Night Memorial, as part of the NUH led Winter Offensive Organizing Drive, every year since 2019, a tradition that began during the campaign to save St Joseph’s hospital, connecting the struggles for healthcare, housing, criminalization of the poor and unhoused, mass incarceration, and the rights of the LGBTQIA community.
The memorial will feature songs, prayer, remembrances, art, poetry, and testimonies from Put People First! PA members and the broader community. This year we will be uplifting the names of those who were denied their human rights to healthcare, housing, and other basic needs; those who are members of our community as dear friends and family: River Olmsted, Theadora (Thea) Cassidy, Tammy Bell, Lucy Fisher, Deb Kneisley, Ricardo Munoz, Miss Penny, Gregory Baynes, Anthony Snyder, and more. Further names will be included in programming at the event, and introduced by participants and audience members.
The National Winter Offensive season takes place annually from Thanksgiving through the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr Day with key dates throughout the organizing drive.
As part of the National Winter Offensive Organizing Drive the National Annual Homeless Memorials take place December 21st every year on the longest night of the year to memorialize and honor our people who have died on the streets and from this unjust system as well as declare a call to action to unite, organize and fight for our human rights and put an end to deaths in the streets!
The memorial comes in the midst of HUD recently announcing the significant rise in homelessness across the country and the continued advocacy by Put People First! PA for restoration of the adult dental benefit to Medicaid, which was cut in 2011. PPF-PA recently organized a caravan from five regions across Pennsylvania to converge on the State Capitol with sections of the ‘Medicaid Stories Quilt’, delivering a petition to Gov. Shapiro and DHS Secretary Val Arkoosh requesting an immediate end to the Medicaid cutoffs and an expansion of Medicaid to cover all Pennsylvania residents and families, a restoration of the Medicaid Adult Dental Benefit, and for the legislature to pass a law establishing an office of the Public Healthcare Advocate for Pennsylvania. Put People First! PA continues to support and organize Medicaid recipients to file appeals through the State.
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