Tombstone Project creates headstones for the unhoused who died this year

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - According to the Tombstone Project, more than 200 unhoused people died in Santa Clara County, California this year.

Volunteers came together this week to create headstones for the unhoused who died in 2024 and fight to save lives in the future.

73-year-old Rosita Tolentino and 39-year-old Maha Patra. They are just two of the more than 200 people, the Tombstone Project says, died on the streets of Santa Clara County.

The project began five years ago to make sure the unhoused are not forgotten. Advocate Shaunn Cartwright says the project is doing its own tracking of deaths on the streets.

"It's a record number of Asians, babies and people who died from hypothermia as well as females and blacks who died on the streets," Cartwright shared.

A tombstone was made for 14-year-old Jose Zamora who died by suicide after he was teased for being homeless at Santa Clara High School. Others died during heat waves or cold snaps.

Amanda Cole survived living on the streets for ten years. Now, she wants to honor those who didn't make it.

"I do feel moved by people who die on the streets and and I want to be part of the solution of preventing that," Cole expressed.

Cartwright says she believes sweeping homeless camps has played a role in the this year's deaths.

"As a society, as a city and county, we are not doing enough to protect people and when you are sweeping people...you are taking them out taking out of the shelters they built that protect them from the elementnts and the things keeping them warm are taken," Cartwright said.

Cartwright also says more needs to be done to protect seniors living on the streets.

These tombstones were displayed at San Jose City Hall on December 20 to call attention to the deaths and call for action to save lives in the future.