LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - People gathered at Lafayette Transitional Housing Thursday night to honor those that have lost their lives while experiencing homelessness.
Nine people in the Greater Lafayette community died in 2019, that's two more people than last year. Leaders at LTHC say they are seeing an uptick in homelessness in our community. But tonight was about remembering that every life matters with a candlelight vigil.
Lisa Hood is the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church and she organized the service. She said this was an opportunity to break down the stigma around homelessness.
"We are all God's children and none of us is better or worse than another, that all have value and this is an opportunity to make people think about that," she said.
Jennifer Layton said they are always trying to look at the bigger picture when it comes to helping people get back on their feet, and LTHC has a lot to look forward to in 2020.
"We know that it's housing, number one but also services and providing people with resources and assistance so in January we will be opening our brand new facility," she said.
Layton said they will have a ribbon cutting in January. They also hope to soon have a plan for how to utilize a $1.25 million grant from Amazon to help those in need.