Meet Our Youth

RITA
JACK
DANIELLE
JARED
MALCOLM


RITA
“I feel safe at Covenant House – there’s sanctuary here…”

The petite, soft-spoken blonde is continuing her studies in our on-site school even though she’s moved on from our shelter to share an apartment with a roommate. After finding herself on the street earlier this year, Rita spent several months in our residence and in our school.

Conflicts with her more traditional Eastern European family led her to drop out of school and leave home last year. The oldest of three children, Rita says that when the family immigrated five years ago, the adjustment was difficult for her parents. “I left for the sake of the family.”    

“Covenant House was the first place I thought about,” Rita says. “I didn’t know anything about shelters, but I had seen advertising for Covenant House around the city.”

“The staff keep a sharp eye on you, but in a good way,” she says. “They keep track of your progress, and it’s easy to talk to them.”

Now Rita is working to get her high school diploma and go to college where she hopes to use her writing and language skills to pursue a teaching career.

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JACK
“I got a chance to grow up all over again at Covenant House…”
He came from a comfortable suburban neighbourhood, but his home was wracked by domestic violence.
 
At 14, Jack ran to the street to escape. Instead he found himself in a downward spiral of crime and drugs. When he nearly died of exposure in sub-zero temperatures while sleeping under a bridge, Jack realized he needed to change his life.
 
After he was released from hospital, he came to Covenant House. He was determined to start over and go back to school. With the agency’s help, he got his high school diploma and earned a university scholarship.

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DANIELLE
“At Covenant House, they helped me realize that you have to do it for yourself.”

Proudly reporting a recent exam score of 97 percent, Danielle, 18, is back with her parents and finishing high school.

Along the way to academic achievement, the suburban student says she became so stressed last year that it led to problems with her family.

She came to Covenant House and found the support she needed and a school situation that helped get her back on track. Danielle says. “I liked the school because the teachers make such an effort to accommodate the students.”

The flexibility and experiential learning, “like taking history walks around the neighbourhood and visiting a greenhouse,” made all the difference for her. “It’s definitely a great environment to use to get back into school.”

Within a few months, Danielle reunited with her family while she continued to attend our school and see one of our counsellors for ongoing support.

Now she has plans for university and a career in research in the sciences or humanities.

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JARED
“We all needed to get away from home because of bad situations.”

“It was 1988, I was 16 and I found myself in a position where I had no place to live.

My mother (who had been diagnosed as schizophrenic) was patching up her fourth marriage and was told that I needed to be out of the picture. I got in touch with my real father, who I hadn’t seen since I was three, and he invited me to live with him and my stepmother.

Wanting to have the acceptance of someone in my family, I quickly accepted, but the situation deteriorated because they both abused alcohol.

My brother in Toronto said I could stay with him but changed his mind as soon as I arrived. Coming from a small Northern Ontario town, the only thing I knew about Toronto was Yonge Street so I walked around until someone directed me to Covenant House.

The kids at Covenant House were pretty much like me. We all needed to get away from home because of bad situations. Most people think they are bad kids who just don’t want to obey their parents. But, by far most kids just wanted to make it on their own because in their homes, they wouldn’t make it.

Today I live in Hamilton with my spouse of nine years and have come to accept what happened and hold no grudges. I work in Toronto as a manager at a bank where I’ve been for sixteen years.”

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MALCOLM
"A sandwich changed my life."

"A few years back, I was a homeless teenager eating out of dumpsters on the streets, when the Covenant House van pulled up and offered me a peanut butter sandwich. I will never forget how hungry I was and how good that sandwich tasted. Looking back, I think I can say your outreach workers saved my life that night.

I’m married now, with a boy of my own. The other day I was fixing my son a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and thought of Covenant House. I thought about the sandwich you offered me -- with no strings attached -- and all the help I got at your shelter. Then I looked at my little boy and thought about all the things in life that I would have missed if I never got off the streets.

For the rest of my life, every time I make my son a sandwich, I will think of Covenant House and say a little prayer of thanks to God. I just wanted you to know that. God bless you." 

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