Visual Stories

Photos: Seven people remembered at Bean's Cafe memorial

On a normal day, Bean's Café is full of people. Many more stand in the parking lot of the downtown Anchorage soup kitchen and on the sidewalks of Third Avenue and nearby streets. Others sit or sleep in the grass and woods of neighboring blocks. Hundreds of people, mostly homeless, turn to Bean's for meals and a place to be indoors for part of the day.

Even by the overwhelming circumstances that, for Bean's, are standard, it has a been difficult time.

Seven people who were known at Bean's have recently died, many found on Anchorage streets.

On Wednesday, their names -- Patrick Soolook, Harry Oxereok, Chester Ferreira, Chena Hall, Johnny Good, Ella Mae Clarke, Jolene Odomin -- were read aloud and their friends given a chance to mourn in a simple, emotional ceremony led by Anchorage police and fire chaplains.

Read more: Q&A: After string of Anchorage street deaths, 'It’s a very helpless feeling right now'

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