Photo by Erin FredrichsTribune

Tribune

Kobiana Nakigan plays his drum on the march from Healthcare for the Homeless to First United Methodist Church in Downtown Albuquerque. The march Tuesday was part of a vigil to honor those who died from causes related to homelessness in 2007.

Photo by Erin FredrichsTribune

Tribune

Lilly Otto lets her candle burn a few moments after everyone else had blown out theirs during the Homeless Persons Memorial Vigil. People gathered at First United Methodist Church on Tuesday to remember the 53 people who died in Albuquerque in 2007 due to homelessness.

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Death was Albuquerque's cruel Christmas gift to Rodolph Dodd.

The 63-year-old man had a history of mental illness and was homeless. Not long after he was able to secure financial assistance and housing at New Life Homes property, Dodd's mental health deteriorated and he had a psychiatric fit. On Dec. 19, 2006, he went into a coma and never came out of it.

Dodd was one of 53 people who died from causes related to homelessness in the past year, advocates say.

On Tuesday, the city's homeless community gathered outside of the Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless building and marched to First United Methodist Church, 314 Lead Ave. S.W., to honor the deaths of their fellow transients. At the church, they talked about the harsh conditions of a life on the streets, read poems and lit candles for the deceased.

Katrina Owensby, service coordinator for New Life Homes — an affordable-housing company — said she remembered Dodd fondly.

"He was a really neat guy," she said. "He would talk about 20 different issues at one time. But if you paid attention long enough, he would make sense of all 20 issues."

Owensby and her husband manage a property for New Life Homes off Broadway Boulevard and Coal Avenue Southeast. In the past year she has had three of her tenants, including Dodd, die from prolonged exposure to living on the streets, she said.

"The first week of January we lost a client," Owensby said. "He got hit by a car doing his everyday routine. We had another client, a couple of days later, who had a severe bout of depression. He had an overdose, and he had only been a resident for three weeks."

Owensby said Albuquerque's homeless population is much bigger than people think because people often don't include families living with their relatives or in hotel rooms as homeless.

"There are a lot of families in Albuquerque who are one paycheck away from homelessness," she said.

Henry Kennison, a 50-year-old Hurricane Katrina survivor, went from being relocated and homeless to living at one of the New Life Homes properties.

At Tuesday's service, Kennison sang a song he wrote about being homeless at the church. He said he had moved to Albuquerque in September 2006 and after three months of worrying about where to sleep and what to eat, he was able to secure disability and Social Security payments. When officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency told him they would give him financial assistance if he wanted to go back to Louisiana, Kennison refused.

"I got a voter's card here," he said. "Albuquerque is my home now."

Lisa LaBrecque, the policy and advocacy director of New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, said the march and candlelight vigil have been an annual event since 2000. Last year 49 people were honored. They died from a combination of health problems, lack of shelter and exposure to violence on the streets, she said.

LaBrecque said the event had purposely been planned for the week of Dec. 21.

"There is a lot of symbolic meaning there," LaBrecque said. "Because Dec. 21, as you know, is the longest night of the year."

The forecast for Friday is for rain and snow showers with a low of 27 degrees. The weather is good news for people who like to snowboard and ski, but for the city's homeless, it means they'll have to struggle to survive the night.

Robert Esquivel has been homeless in Albuquerque for the last month and a half.

The 19-year-old said he came to New Mexico from Texas to attend the funeral of his grandfather. He said he was staying with his aunt but became homeless after his uncle attacked him and kicked him out of the house.

His only possessions are his clothes, backpack and a folder with a high school diploma in it from Benjamin Franklin High School.

"I even graduated with honors," he said. "But that doesn't make a difference now."

Esquivel said he has been staying at the Albuquerque Opportunities Center and has been trying to get accepted into Central New Mexico Community College.

"It's freezing at night," he said. "It's not sanitary."

Esquivel said he went to the Good Shepherd Center to see if they had better living conditions.

"They wouldn't have me, because I wanted to go to school," he said.

At the vigil, after the songs were sung, the testimonies given and the last name of the dead was read, the candles lit in honor of the deceased flickered for a final moment — the delicate balance between burning bright and being snuffed out a symbolic reference to the fragile lives of Albuquerque's homeless.

"I just want a chance to put my life together," Esquivel said. "I just want to live."