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We Remember
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The 2025 Homeless Memorial remembered 169 people who died from the homeless community this year.
The Contributor (https://thecontributor.org/tag/cover-story/page/3/)
The 2025 Homeless Memorial remembered 169 people who died from the homeless community this year.
The Contributor looks at the events and policy shifts that shaped the year
The pages of wrapping paper inside the Dec. 3 issue of The Contributor were created as part of collaboration between vendors who sell The Contributor newspaper and Unzine Nashville.
Wendell Segroves, a skilled craftsman and a former member of the Metro Homelessness Commission and Homelessness Planning Council, moved to Old Tent City in 2004. Wendell and his dogs. Photo by Steve Samra
“There were only five people there and I had to be invited in,” he said. “It was Nashville’s best kept secret.”
In those days, the camps were spread out. “We kept to ourselves,” explained Wendell.
… this land had served as a sanctuary for unhoused residents for over 40 years. It was never just a camp.
Darla the dog came to visit us in the fall of 2008. It was when we lived in that little duplex right by the train tracks with car-glass and graffiti in the backyard.
What we didn’t expect was to be so touched and ultimately impressed by the stories that were shared.