Vigil shares HOPE Week messages

Jefferson Geiger
Posted 9/28/17

Bob Philips of Lightshine Music and AmeriCorps volunteer Alex Benishek lead Wednesday's candlelight vigil outside of La Puente in "Amazing Grace" as Don Kanen and AmeriCorps volunteer Christine Greve hold an umbrella and music.

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Vigil shares HOPE Week messages

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Bob Philips of Lightshine Music and AmeriCorps volunteer Alex Benishek lead Wednesday's candlelight vigil outside of La Puente in "Amazing Grace" as Don Kanen and AmeriCorps volunteer Christine Greve hold an umbrella and music. La Puente has been doing candlelight vigils to raise awareness about homelessness since 1991.

 

Robert Kelly shares his personal story with homelessness to the crowd outside of Southside Suds during the vigil on Wednesday. Kelly, who has an expecting wife, told the group that he got accepted into La Puente's Adelante housing program that day. "At one point I couldn't prepare for myself," he said. "Come December I'll be prepared for all three of us."

 

Stopped at the train depot because it provides free wifi and it's close to the railroad tracks and Milagros Coffee House, Ron Angel recites poems he wrote and expresses gratitude for La Puente. "I wouldn't have survived last winter if not for La Puente," said Angel, who lost his job as a mortgage broker in 2008. "I don't even know these people and they paid for my rent. How can you explain that?"

 

To close the vigil Adam State University's vocal jazz ensemble 68 West sings Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" after members of Adams State University's campus ministry read interfaith passages at Sacred Heart Church on Wednesday. HOPE Week, which stands for Homeless Outreach and Prevention Education, continues today with Stone Soup at Alamosa High School Elementary.