The 4th Annual Homelessness Marathon

PRESS RELEASE
The 4th Annual Homelessness Marathon
__________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


CONTACTS
Jeremy Alderson
607-546-2084
radio [at] lightlink.com

Carly Gartman
617-520-7255
cgartman [at] webergroup.com

RADIO JOURNALIST AND VOLUNTEERS TO SPEND 14 HOURS IN BOSTON COLD IN SUPPORT OF HOMELESS AWARENESS

Broadcast around the nation, Marathon to be one of America\'s largest media events dedicated to homelessness

Boston, MA - According to estimates published by the National Coalition for the Homeless, well over two million people went homeless last year - more than the populations of Boston, Atlanta, and Kansas City combined. In an effort to increase national awareness of homelessness, talk-show moderator Jeremy \"Nobody\" Weir Alderson will host a 14-hour live radio broadcast of The Fourth Annual Homelessness Marathon.

Beginning at 7 p.m. EST on January 24 and ending at 9 a.m. EST the following morning, Alderson and volunteers, including those who used to be and are currently homeless, will spend the entirety of the overnight broadcast in Boston\'s freezing cold on the steps of the Old Cambridge Baptist Church, at 1151 Massachusetts Avenue, in Cambridge, Mass. The Marathon will not seek to raise funds, but only to heighten the country\'s consciousness of the severity of the homeless epidemic. This broadcast will be aired in major national markets including Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, and over the Internet (station listing).

\"To me the existence of homelessness in the richest country on earth is a dead-canary-in-the-coal-mine warning that something is deeply wrong,\" says Alderson, a radio and print journalist whose work has appeared in The Columbia Journalism Review, Parents, and Harper\'s Bazaar. \"Homelessness is an emergency because people are freezing to death, homeless women are being victimized, and homeless children are being traumatized. The whole point of the marathon is to get homo sapiens to realize that homeless sapiens are the same as them, and that if we help them, we\'ll be helping ourselves. And the best way to accomplish this is by just examining the issues and letting homeless people speak for themselves.\"

Hourly, the Marathon\'s live discussion topics will include: gentrification of affordable housing and the decline of housing stock, homeless youth, homeless grandparents, race and homelessness, hunger, healthcare available for the homeless, how the economy drives homelessness, the rights of the homeless people, and homeless women. The broadcast will also include a one to two hour open mike with marathon participants, calls from the general public, and calls from homeless people who will have a special call-in number available that has been circulated through shelters and papers catering to the homeless. Five minute pre-recorded pieces on addiction and homelessness, rural homelessness, reading by homeless poets, homelessness and the penal system and the legal impact of welfare reform on the homeless will be played throughout the night.

To participate in the 14-hour marathon, call 1-877-533-8478 for those who were, are or might become homeless. Others may call number is 1-800-213-9367.

7 - 8pm Opening remarks by Nobody. Then panel of Homeless Youth, Missy, Amy, Chase, Anthony.

8 - 9pm Falling Out The Bottom: How The New Economy Creates New Homelessness. Co-Hosts, Ellen Frank, Professor of Economics at Emmanuel College and Tom Hirschl, Professor of Rural Sociology at Cornell and author of \"Cutting Edge: Technology, Information Capitalism and Social Revolution\"

9 - 10pm Homelessness and Race. Co-Hosts: Indio, former member of \"The Young Lords\" and current editor of Street News, the homeless paper of NYC and Willie Ratcliff, publisher of The San Francisco Bay View, a weekly African-American community paper.

10 - 11pm A Panel of Homeless Grandparents and Elders: including Claudette Chambers, homeless grandparent and Morton Thomas, homeless elder

11 - mid Homeless And Disabled: As If Things Weren\'t Bad Enough. Co-Hosts: David Oaks, Director Support Coalition International and Charles Swenson and Steve R., two wheelchair-bound homeless men.

mid - 1am Why Good Intentions Aren\'t Enough: A Look at Boston and Cambridge. Co-Hosts: Macy Delong, Director of Solutions At Work and Vicki Coleman with Homes For Families, and Ed Cameron Staff Assistant in the Emergency Shelter Commission in the Mayor\'s Office

1 - 2am Women and Homelessness. Julia Tripp, a formerly homeless woman now an advocate for homeless women and Stephanie Golden, author of \"The Women Outside: Meanings And Myths Of Homelessness.\"

2 - 3am Open Mic Hour

3 - 4am Gentrification. Co-Hosts: Tom Boland, founder, Homeless People\'s Network On-Line and Paul Boden, director San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness

4 - 5am Going Hungry: How Do Poor People Eat? Co-Hosts: Richard Edmundson, a formerly homeless man and founder of San Francisco Liberation Radio and Kathleen Gorman, Director of the University of Rhode Island Feinstein Center For A Hunger-Free America

5 - 6am Open Mic Hour

6 - 7am Rights: Do Homeless People Have Any? Co-Hosts: Laurel Weir, Policy Director National Law Center On Homelessness and Poverty and Cheri Hankala, Executive Director, Kensington Welfare Rights Union

7 - 8am Health Care and homelessness. Co-Hosts: Dr. Jim O\'Connel, physician-founder Boston Health Care for the Homeless and Steffi Woolhandler, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

8 - 9am Can the Problem Be Solved? Co-Hosts: Maryanne Gleason, former executive director, National Coalition for the Homeless and Rev. Dr. Deborah W. Lyttle, Executive Director Ecclesia Ministries and Priest of Common Cathedral, an open air ministry for homeless people on the Boston Commons

CFUV, Victoria, BC* 12:30a - 6a PST
KAOS, Olympia, WA* 9p - 6a PST
KBCS, Bellevue/Seattle, WA* 9p-6a PST
KBOO, Portland, OR 4p-6a PST (FULL BROADCAST)
KCND, Bismark, ND 9p-5a CST
KCBX, San Luis Obispo, CA 9p - 5:30a PST
KDPB, Dickenson, ND 9p-5a MST
KDPR, Williston, ND 9p-5a MST
KDSU, Fargo, ND . 9p-5a CST
KFCF, Fresno, CA* 4p-6a PST (FULL BROADCAST)
KGNU, Boulder, CO* 9p - 6a MST
KHSU, Arcata, CA 7pm - 12 mid PST
KMPR, Minot, ND 9p-5a CST
KPFA, Berkeley, CA*
KPFK, Los Angeles, CA* MIDNIGHT to 6 am PST
KPRJ, Jamestown, ND 9p-5a CST
KNNB, Whiteriver, AZ
KOTO, Telluride, CO 12am-6am MST
KRCB, Rohnert Park, CA* 8p-6a PST
KSFC, Spokane, WA
KUND, Grand Forks, ND 9p-5a CST
KUSP, Santa Cruz, CA* 9p-1a PST
KVMR, Nevada City (including.Sacramento & Auburn), CA* 7p-4a PST
WDBX, Cardondale, IL 2a-8a CST
WEFT, Champaign/Urbana, IL* 6p - 8a CST (FULL BROADCAST)
WEOS, Geneva, NY* : 7pm - 9am EST (FULL BROADCAST)
WERU, Blue Hill Falls, ME 7p-9a EST (FULL BROADCAST)
WJFF, Jeffersonville, NY 7pm-6am EST
WMBR, Cambridge, MA* 7pm - 9am EST (FULL BROADCAST)
WMNF, Tampa, FL* 7p-7a EST
WMPG, Portland. ME 7pm - 9am EST (FULL BROADCAST)
WORT, Madison, WI
WZRD, Chicago, IL 6p - 8a CST (FULL BROADCAST)

AM

WILL, Urbana, IL* 11p - 4a CST

WEBCAST

MicroRadio.NET
Boston Independent Media Center

*These stations broadcast their signal on the Internet. See their web sites for details.

END FORWARD

Visit HPN for CONSTANTLY UPDATING NEWS on Homeless People:

***************************************************************
HOMELESS PEOPLE\'S NETWORK list Info <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn>
Over 10,000 articles by or via homeless & ex-homeless people
Open ARCHIVES <http://projects.is.asu.edu/pipermail/hpn/>
Been Homeless? Then JOIN! EMAIL Tom Boland <wgcp [at] earthlink.net>
Nothing About Us Without Us - Democratize Public Policy
***************************************************************