By for Summit Medical Group

By Joy Pierce Mathews for Summit Medical Group


Summit Medical Group Chief Executive Officer Simon Samaha, MD, joined 50 regional business leaders for the recent Covenant House Solidarity Sleepout. Highlighting struggles of the more than 2,000,000 homeless adolescents on the streets each year, the Sleepout allows business leaders and other sympathetic citizens to experience what it's like for the city's homeless kids to sleep on concrete with little more than newspaper and cardboard for warmth.

After a candlelight vigil and Natalie Grant musical performance in Times Square on November 18, Sleepout participants bedded down on the cold, unforgiving concrete behind the Covenant House New York Crisis Shelter at 460 West 41st Street near the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Covenant House President Kevin Ryan said, "These leaders have selflessly decided to walk in our kids' shoes and experience, if only for a night, some of what our kids go through."

"Although a CEO's experience with sleeping on the streets of New York for only one night pales in comparison with what homeless children deal with every day," said Dr. Samaha, "it's a way for us to begin understanding what it must be like for kids trying to survive on their own."

For more than 30 years, Covenant House has provided homeless youth with a safe haven, crisis care, and ongoing support. The nation's largest adolescent care agency, Covenant is open 24 hours a day every day of the year. Originally founded on the lower east side of Manhattan to shelter 6 homeless adolescents during a snowstorm, Covenant now has programs in 21 US cities and Latin America. Each year, Covenant House helps more than 77,000 young people through its local, national, and international programs.

Listen to Louis Montoya tell how he ended up on the streets of New York, and how Covenant House has helped him.

Covenant House:

• Immediately addresses the basic needs of children in crisis, including providing them with a nourishing meal, shower, clean clothes, medical attention, and a safe shelter in which to stay
• Offers children with a stable environment based on respect, honesty, and trust
• Provides young people with guidance and the opportunity to gain self-esteem so that they can make healthy choices for their futures

"I felt honored to participate in the Solidarity Sleepout," said Dr. Samaha. "Our youth are our future. Each time Covenant House gives a homeless child a helping hand, its efforts have the potential for far-reaching positive effects for our communities...our world. The children who come to Covenant House want the same things we want for ourselves and all our children—to feel safe, that they belong and are wanted, and to know they have something to offer the people and world around them, to believe they have value and a purpose, and to know they have the potential and strength to help themselves and others. Covenant House reinforces self worth in each of the kids who walk through its doors. Its programs give kids a safe haven and a foundation for improving their lives."

For more information about Covenant House and the sleepout,
please visit www.covenanthouse.org
and www.ceosleep.org.