Exeter, NH (January 28, 2008)—On Wednesday, January 30, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., the 19th Annual Homeless Vigil will begin at New Outlook Teen Center and end with a program at Town Hall on Front Street. This year’s event is a community-wide effort to raise awareness about homelessness in the Seacoast area, also will include the public kick-off of the Tents of Hope Project. The vigil is sponsored by Phillips Exeter Academy’s Exeter Social Service Organization (ESSO), participants from Exeter Area High School, the Cooperative Middle School Builder’s Club, New Outlook Teen Center, and local civic groups and churches. The public is invited to participate.

Vigil participants will proceed with lit candles from the New Outlook Teen Center at 120 Front Street, to Phillips Exeter Academy’s Phillips Church on Front Street, where African drummers will perform for the procession. The vigil will then proceed past the Tents of Hope Project exhibit in front of the Congregational Church and on to Town Hall, at Main and Front Streets. Along the approximate half-mile route, students from the Cooperative Middle School, the Exeter Area High School (EAHS), members of area churches, the New Outlook Teen Center, and Phillips Exeter Academy will join the procession. 
 
The Rev. Robert Thompson, School Minister at the Academy, will greet participants at the steps of Town Hall and lead them in song before they enter the building for a brief program of music, prayer and stories about the challenges of homelessness.

The program will include speakers Patricia Snell from the Phillips Exeter's Social Service Organization's Amnesty International, Courtni Ward, President of the (EAHS) Student Senate and Lauren Chaisson (EAHS), speaking about the Tents of Hope Project; student performers from the Phillips Exeter Concert Choir, Exeteras and In Essence, a cappella groups, and individual musicians from both the High School and Phillips Exeter.

The local launch of the Tents of Hope Project is part of a national effort to educate the public about the 2.5 million displaced refugees from Darfur, the western region of the Sudan, where “non-Muslim” Arabs have been attacked, killed and driven out since 2004.
 
“This year, while continuing to support local organizations, we are also offering a broadened scope of homelessness,” says Laurie Loosigian, Phillips Exeter Academy’s Community Service Coordinator. “This vigil will provide a more global view of homelessness—what it is, and how it affects millions around the world, specifically hundreds of thousands displaced in Darfur. At Phillips Exeter, we want to think globally about homelessness because our students come from a global community.”

Candles for the vigil will be available at various launch points and at Town Hall. Recommended donations for the candles are $5 or more. Participants are also encouraged to bring new knitted hats, scarves or mittens to be donated to area shelters. All funds will go to support: New Generation Shelter in Greenland; Rockingham Community Action; CrossRoads House; and the Interfaith Hospitality Network. Each of these organizations provides support for individuals and families dealing with homelessness.
 
For more information, contact Loosigian at (603) 777-3584, or email lloosigian@exeter.edu. A complete list of upcoming events is available on the Phillips Exeter Academy public events line at (603) 777-4309 and on our website at http://www.exeter.edu/. For directions to Phillips Exeter Academy, call (603) 777-4330.

Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory school that was founded in 1781 and originated the system of instruction known as Harkness teaching in 1931. In the spirit of its charter to foster both goodness and knowledge, students come from a wide variety of geographic, economic, racial and religious backgrounds. The diverse student body comes from approximately 45 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and 23 foreign countries.