Volunteers Make a Difference in Ending Youth Homelessness

A lot of work goes into making Covenant House a transformational place for youth overcoming homelessness. While our staff are experts in providing the crisis care, mental health, and case management services our youth desperately need, we rely on volunteers from the community to help us tackle some big projects that show our youth that they are cared for in so many ways, and by so many people.

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There are many sides to the fight to end youth homelessness, and our volunteers help with all of them. It’s easy to get involved: here are some simple and creative ways people have shown up and made a difference!

Packing Outreach Kits

Last month we kicked off Youth Homelessness Awareness Month with a rally in Times Square on November 1. With the plaza lit up by billboards displaying our message of hope, we declared that until everyone has a home, we’re ALL IN! 

At the rally, volunteers packed over 500 outreach kits for our shelters in New York and New Jersey. Youth who come to us from the street will feel the support and energy of our volunteers when they’re met at the door with a bag full of essentials like a blanket, toothbrush, shampoo, umbrella, and more.

Our corporate partners have also been busy assembling kits for youth recently, with companies large and small contributing to pack hundreds more kits to prepare us for the winter. If you’re interested in having your company partner with Covenant House for a kit packing challenge, you can reach out to our corporate partnerships team.

Serving Meals

Providing access to regular and nutritious meals is one of the most important services we offer. Volunteers and corporate partners regularly help out by donating and serving food to Covenant House residents across all of our sites. Our friends at Pret recently catered a lunch at Covenant House New York to kick off a yearlong partnership, and NHL stars from the Maple Leafs showed up to Covenant House Toronto to serve a Thanksgiving meal.

"It's the smallest thing for us to hopefully give some youth a little fun for an hour or two,” said Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev. "Covenant House has been around for a long time helping youth that just need some help and some joy. It’s an easy thing for us to do for a couple hours of the day."

Workforce Development

Landing a job can be a huge hurdle for youth facing homelessness. Our workforce development programs are strengthened when volunteers offer their expertise to help coach youth one-on-one. The MetLife Foundation recently stepped up by hosting a resume-building workshop for our youth at their NYC offices. MetLife employees paired off with Covenant House youth to go over their application materials, offering personalized feedback on their resumes and tools to help them in their job search. Over in Chicago, a crew of amazing volunteers from JP Morgan Chase’s internal audit team donated 50 toiletry kits and spent an afternoon at Covenant House Illinois working directly with young people on mock interviews and workplace role playing. 

Youth homelessness is an issue of affordability. In a lot of cases, getting a young person a job opportunity where they can support themselves with a living wage is the key step in overcoming homelessness. Thanks to volunteers who lend their time and skills, Covenant House’s workforce development programs serve over 3,000 youth each year.

Sleep Out

Every year, thousands of business leaders, students, and celebrities join the Covenant House Sleep Out movement in solidarity with youth facing homelessness. The volunteers across North and Central America give up their beds for one night and sleep outside to raise critical funds for Covenant House — and to let the world know about the ever-growing population of young people who face homelessness.

“I spent six hours (trying) to sleep outside in a controlled environment with security and basic supplies,” said Katelyn, who participated in Sleep Out for the first time this year. “This pales in comparison to the days, weeks, months, or years unhoused youth spend in unsafe, unpredictable conditions. They are the most resilient people among us — they endure situations and conditions they didn't choose, and fight every day to overcome them. The cards remain stacked against them, yet they persevere through it all. For me, it was one night; for them, it's every day.”

Holiday Decorating

It’s so important to us that when a young person walks through the doors of a Covenant House, they immediately feel that it is a place of warmth, safety, and community. Volunteers across our sites have been hard at work helping us put up winter decorations, building a festive atmosphere and showing our youth that they’re cared for. They’ve also helped us fulfill our promise that every youth staying at Covenant House gets a holiday gift, donating and packaging thousands of presents across our federation.

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Building a warm and loving atmosphere at our youth homeless shelters is always important, but especially during the holidays. Not having a family or safe home to turn to for connection and community can make this season extra isolating and lonely for youth facing homelessness. That's why we make sure our youth shelters are filled with positive energy and joy during the holidays. A big part of that effort comes from community volunteers who come help us decorate. Beyond just making the space festive, it shows our youth that there are people out there who care enough about them to show up and make their holiday season a little more cheerful.

♬ original sound - Covenant House

Our volunteers’ dedication — from spending an afternoon serving meals to spending a night outside in solidarity — is what will make the movement to end youth homelessness successful. Thank you to the thousands of supporters across North and Central America who regularly show up to make a difference. If you want to become one of them, we're always offering a number of ways to volunteer or lend your support to the movement.