In response to recent hate crimes against homeless people in Chicago, the Heartland Alliance Health (HAH) outreach team joined the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless and several other institutions for a candlelight vigil to pay respects to the lives lost and affected by this senseless violence.
Though he spent years in business and marketing, Mark’s always been a hands-on helper. When an opportunity popped up to serve vulnerable populations, he chose to change his life forever. The second half of his career has been dedicated to serving the elderly and individuals with developmental disabilities. For the last 5 ½ years he has been serving individuals experiencing homelessness with Heartland Alliance Health.
Why was it important to participate in this vigil?
We spend a lot of time in these encampments, and we know how important it is to have a sense of community and others around you looking out for one another. The attacks on the encampments disrupt that community. We needed to be there to stand with the people we serve.
Why do you continue to serve in this capacity, even during COVID-19?
Firstly, we do this right. We’ve got the guidelines built up to continue to help other people in a safe way, in a healthy way. Secondly, I’ve always been driven to this kind of work. You know, in my past I was in marketing and sales. I’m still doing that today, but today I sell hope and success. That’s my goal, and that’s why I can get up every day with a smile on my face.
What do we need to do as a community to ensure an end to these hate crimes? What do we need to do to ensure an end to homelessness?
Those are two tall orders, but we can do it. This vigil is a great image of what we need, we need the community together – but we need more than that. Government should be outraged by homelessness, businesses should be outraged by the fact that people live on the street. We need everyone’s hands on deck.
