Homelessness is a heartbreaking thought, especially when so many young Canadians live without a home to call their own. The future of Canada lies with today’s youth, yet due to circumstances beyond their control, thousands of young men and women are forced to survive on the streets with no one to support or believe in them.
The winter months are particularly difficult on homeless youth since gusts of arctic air and blizzard conditions make it very complicated to stay warm. Homelessness is unfortunately rampant across the entire country particularly in the big cities. Toronto for example, reports over 10,000 homeless youth are on the streets in any given year even when the city declares extreme cold alerts at -15 degrees Celsius and colder.
Homeless youth are reliant on social housing and charitable organizations during these extremely cold nights to find shelter and stay warm. The Covenant House is one of these associations, and is recognized as one of Toronto’s most important organizations to help keep youth off the streets. Volunteers that donate their time to the Covenant House routinely commend the intelligence and potential of most youth who come through the doors – they simply need an opportunity and someone to believe in them to turn their lives around.
The Covenant House relies on charitable donations to finance 80 percent of its operating budget. The Covenant House is more than just a shelter – it provides healthcare, counselling, and education services. But it’s most distinguished trademark is providing job training skills and development to help young men and women find steady employment and begin building a real chance at life. In order to meet its mission, the Covenant House requires all the help it can get.
One of the donors is the operator of www.onlinecasino.org, which will donate $50 to the Covenant House for every person who registers an account through the website until March 20 – the first day of spring. The goal is to help the Covenant House provide opportunity and hope for as many homeless youth as possible – help the youth of today be better for tomorrow.
About Sheri
An online casino giving money towards homelessness? Huh! Not a combo I would have expected to see! Good for them though for using their site to put money (and $50 a person?! WOW!) towards a very very good cause!
Haha Soozle, yeah I find it rather ironic… but hey, at least they are giving back.
Thanks for posting this; I’m not sure how many people know the real issues facing some of our young people. My daughter stayed at Covenant House in Vancouver a few years back; they were a blessing.
Thanks for the great post! This is such an important cause that we so often forget to think about; it’s tragic to see so many youth out on the streets. Will definitely register with the donor site!
In Vancouver we have been fortunate enough to have a Convenant house too. I personally have aided a homeless youth that was friends with my daughter. What a great donation that Donor site is offering.
that’s a great initiative
Covenant House is important for cities that have homeless youth.
what an amazing program!~