Public Service Announcement · Giving
“A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.”
African proverb
Tonight, somewhere in Harlem, in Detroit, in Grand Rapids and in every Harlem of the world, a young person will be looking for a place to lay their head. A doorway. A train car. A friend’s couch that won’t be there tomorrow. We pass them every day, and too often we look away.
The proverb is not a threat. It is a mirror. When the village fails to embrace its young, they do not disappear. They carry that cold with them, and in time all of us feel it. Covenant House has spent decades doing the embracing: a bed, a meal, a counselor, a way back. Their message is simple, and it is printed on the wall: every young person deserves a safe place to sleep.
On Thursday, November 19, people across North America will give up their own beds for one night for Covenant House’s Sleep Out: here in New York on the field at Yankee Stadium, and in Michigan with Covenant House Michigan. Sleepers raise funds and raise awareness, and for one night they feel a small piece of what too many of our young people feel every night.
This call came to The Harlem Times from J. Kelvin Jackson of Covenant House, who sees this work up close. I am passing it on to you because I believe what I have always believed: no one is greater or less than another, and every one of us can be useful to someone. We are thinking, feeling, willing people. Knowing that is not enough. We have to apply it.
So here is what I ask. Sleep out, if you can. Sponsor someone who does. Give what you are able. Or simply share this page with one person who has a bed to spare for a night. The village is only as warm as we make it.
— Paul Jackson, Publisher, The Harlem Times
Happening now: Sleep Out Grand Rapids
As this goes up on Thursday night, November 5, Covenant House Michigan’s second-ever all-night Sleep Out is underway in Grand Rapids. It began with a candlelight vigil, each flame a promise to the city’s young people. Community members, leaders, young people, staff and partners came out in the cold together. Here is what that looks like.
Are you a young person who needs a safe place tonight? Covenant House is there for you. In Michigan, young people ages 18–24 can call the Covenant House crisis line at (313) 305-0311 on weekdays, or (313) 463-2500 after hours and on weekends. Elsewhere, visit covenanthouse.org.
