MONROE -- Eighty percent of the local homeless population grew up here, said Tim Gray, citing an annual count by residential programs of both sheltered and nonsheltered homeless people.

Even so, Gray said many of them are “invisible” to the community. “People are just hardly aware,” he said, even when these people pass away.

As director of the Union County Community Shelter, Gray is coordinating the shelter’s first memorial service to remember homeless people not honored with proper funeral services. He scheduled the service for after sundown Thursday as a reminder of how vulnerable homeless people are to the cold.

Gray works with about 300 homeless people each year. He estimates the county’s homeless population at 500, some who find shelter at church-operated homes.

These are former neighbors, co-workers, students and church members, he said, yet many of them lose those connections when they become homeless. “A lot of times they’re ashamed.”

Substance abuse, mental illness, medical problems and unemployment can all cause homelessness and affect men, women and children.

Modene Howie, a coordinator for Operation Reach Out, regularly works with homeless people and said many have no family members around. Some do but choose not to live with them.

Operation Reach Out, based in Monroe, provides emergency food, clothing, medication, household items and funds for those in need.

“It’s so sad when they have so little to live for,” she said of some homeless people she works with, “They don’t see a future, just today.” For one to pass away without family or friends to take notice is “a sad thing for anyone,” she added.

Gray said a person or church might donate money or services to bury a homeless person, but many have “a pauper’s funeral.”

“It can be a kind of sad affair,” he said.

Prior to the memorial service, the

shelter will host an informational luncheon for local elected officials such as county commissioners and staff, town mayors and the Union County Board of Education. Food provided for the luncheon is donated by the shelter’s 23 board members.

“We just realized that people didn’t know ... much about homelessness in the community,” Gray said, and decisions that these leaders make affect the homeless population.

The shelter has hosted similar luncheons for congregations, but this is the first year that nearly 80 officials are invited. The officials, along with more than 300 area churches, are also invited to the service.

Items needed for the memorial service, from candles to a sound system, are either donated or borrowed. The interfaith service will include a rabbi, Protestant pastor and minister from a local Latter-Day Saints church. Soloist Shana Blake will sing and names of those honored will be read aloud. Gray is asking for names of homeless people who have died in the past couple of years.

A candlelight service will follow as those involved remind attendees of their responsibility to help fellow homeless residents. Gray said people can help by collecting food, donating coats or offering them jobs when able.

Turning Point, Crisis Assistance Ministry, Friendship Home and Operation Reachout will sposor the event.

The hourlong service will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday evening in front of the old courthouse in downtown Monroe. Refreshments will be served afterward.

Participants are asked to bring blankets to donate to the shelter.