An event for Homeless Persons’ Remembrance Day will recognize the nearly 500 homeless neighbors who died on the streets of Maricopa County in 2021.

The event goes from 5:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 21 in The Van Buren courtyard, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix.

Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS) and The Van Buren are sponsoring the event to recognize National Homeless Persons Remembrance Day with a socially-distanced outdoor event including a vigil, interfaith prayers, poetry readings and music.

All are welcome to this open-to-the-public, no-cost outdoor event.

A 2020 study showed the Glendale has the West Valley’s largest homeless community. Glendale’s Community Development Advisory Committee has named affordable housing as its “priority goal” in the ongoing homelessness strategy and neighborhood improvement projects.

Since 1990, the National Coalition for the Homeless has sponsored National Homeless Persons’ Remembrance Day in order to bring attention to the plight of the nation’s vast and diverse homeless population, and to encourage the public to act on their behalf. The event, held on the winter solstice, remembers those who have died while experiencing homelessness during the previous year.