[NEWS] Annual memorial focuses on hundreds of homeless youth

From NewsWorks: 

Every year for two decades, hundreds have gathered in Philadelphia for a somber holiday-time tradition: a memorial service for the homeless who died in the city over the past year.

While the group usually gathers in the cold near Philadelphia City Hall, an unseasonably warm rain Thursday forced the memorial service inside the Arch Street United Methodist Church.

With words and music, homeless and formerly homeless people, as well as their advocates, remembered the 163 people who have died so far this year.

Homeless Memorial Day is observed in 150 cities and towns around the United States, and this year's event in Philadelphia focused on the hundreds of young people who live on the streets.

"I believe the first person to die on the streets of Philadelphia in 2015 was a young adult," said Sister Mary Scullion, the founder of Project HOME.