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Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless WCH ANNUAL EVENTS: The 2009 event will take place on June 13. Registrations starts at 8:00 a.m. and the walk begins at 9:00. There will be food, fun, door prizes, contests, music and other surprises for the first time this year. Bring your children and your dogs. (Dogs must be on a leash, but children don't have to be!!) Have a conflict on that day? Want to help but can't walk? Sign up as a Ghost Walker -- Ghost Walkers are eligible for door prize drawings. There is no need to be present for door prize drawings. Registration fee is only $12.00 prior to the day of the walk, and $15.00 on the day of the walk. It is never too early to register, click on registration form below, print it up and send it in with your $12.00 registration fee. The Walk is held to bring awareness to the public of the plight of the homeless. It is also a fundraiser for WCH to provide funds for operating expenses which includes expenses related to programs provided at the Richards Center and the Welcome Mat. Without these funds programs would have to be cut back and needed advocacy and empowerment programs would shrink. Sponsors are needed:
WCH is a 501(c)(3) non profit and your donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.
Click here for 2009 registration form Click here for 2009 sponsor form Click here to see pictures of the 2008 walk.
Every night a few hundred people sleep with family, at churches or simply outside. By Baylie Davis Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE -- Nine bell tolls echoed against the Capitol building walls on Monday -- one for each of the homeless who died here in 2008. The deep tones lingered in the cold air while about a dozen onlookers shivered under their hoods. Every year at this time -- the longest night of the year and the first official day of winter -- the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless holds a memorial service. This was the 19th annual gathering. Although the mood was somewhat cheerful, with Christmas carols, smiles and handshakes, the message was somber. "We are here today to remember members of our family who did not survive homelessness," said the Rev. Rick Veit from St. Mark's Episcopal Church and the Cheyenne Interfaith Hospitality Network. Every night a few hundred men, women and children sleep in churches, on couches with family or friends or outside here. On July nights, sleeping out might be tolerable. On nights like Sunday night, when temperatures hovered barely above single digits, it can be deadly. Veit rang the bell eight times and said eight names with puffs of his breath. The ninth name was simply: "Bruce Broomfield's girlfriend." The bell rang a final time for the unnamed woman, perhaps representative of the many homeless who die every year in the country unannounced. Cheyenne Mayor Jack Spiker addressed the group as well. "It is my greatest prayer that very soon we will not have to remember the homeless (people) who died this year," he said. The Rev. Jay Meyer, lead pastor for Vineyard Church of Cheyenne, encouraged people to do practical things to help the homeless, like carrying sack lunches in their cars to give to the hungry. "We need to continue to reach out and help those who are wandering," he said. "That's our challenge." Each year the service is held outside on a bitterly cold winter day to emphasize the plight of those who have no place to go." So many are just a paycheck away from experiencing homelessness," Meyer said. "God instructs his followers to remember those who are often forgotten." 
 Article by Baylie Davis and photos by AAron Ontiveroz reprinted with permission of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. The 2009 event will take place on December 21, 2009, at noon in front of the State Capitol Building. For more information contact WCH at 634-8499.
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