Covenant House Newsroom

“Covenant House believed in me.”

That’s what Dr. April Hunziker and investment banker Tracy Jones-Walker said of their experiences as teenage residents of Covenant House when they were interviewed by another former resident, Shevion, now a digital marketing and communications specialist at Covenant House International.

April was just 12 years old the first time she dropped in at Covenant House, fleeing an abusive household. She came multiple times, especially after her son was born when she was 15. “With the challenges and hopelessness I felt that year, I don’t know if I would have made it through alive if it wasn’t for that stability and unconditional love Covenant House provided,” she said. “I truly felt they believed I could do great things, when I couldn’t see it yet.”

Tracy was 19 when she came to Covenant House with her 1-and-a-half-year-old daughter. “Keeping my child safe was my highest priority,” she said. The fact that Covenant House provided on-site childcare was “a win-win for me, since it allowed me the opportunity to go to school and work without having to worry about my daughter being left with strangers in an off-site daycare,” she added.

 “I learned so much about myself while living at Covenant House,” Shevion said of her experience, “and, of course, I’m still learning. Nobody has been a better teacher for me than my own daughter, who turned 10 a few days ago. She has so much confidence, and she approaches each day with so much optimism.”

The interview was conducted during a “telephone town hall,” monthly teleconference meetings with donors to update them on Covenant House programs and our response to the COVID-19 pandemic that has impacted all our houses, from Oakland to Managua and New York City to Vancouver.

For each of these accomplished women, Covenant House provided a safe place to sleep and all the basic necessities when they had nowhere else to turn. Beyond that immediate and critical support, though, we also helped them discover their strength and capacity for resilience, which had been cloaked in the need—theirs and that of their children—to survive. 

“I remember there was a counselor who told me that while my son was getting preschool services, they would appreciate it if I would help tutor the other teenagers. That made me feel useful during one of the periods when I was feeling the worst about myself,” said April, who just completed her psychiatry residency last year.

“I got to sit at the table with staff to plan and discuss strategies,” she recalled. “I saw the tutoring I provided pay off for those I was helping; they were smiling and getting better grades. I got to watch them start to feel better about themselves. I started feeling useful, more confident. I started to think about a future where I had a job I loved and could provide the support to my son that I wanted to.”

 “With the help of my mentor, who was provided to me through Covenant House,” Tracy recalled, “I landed my first professional job at Bear Stearns as an operations specialist in the cash management department.” Tracy went back to school, obtained several certificates in business management, and developed a career and area of expertise in the world of finance that she has long found fulfilling.

In addition to their career success, these three women also went on to build strong families. Besides her now 26-year-old son, April is the proud mother of her 9-year-old daughter. Tracy and her husband, Pharaoh, whom she met while both were residents at Covenant House, have been married for more than 26 years and have three daughters and three grandchildren.

And while Shevion is building her career at the corporate headquarters of Covenant House International, Tracy and April are both members of the Covenant House board of directors and contributing to the strategic direction of our mission. “How can you not give back to Covenant House?” April asked.

Our series of “telephone town halls” continues in October with a conversation about our houses in Latin America. Called Casa Alianza and La Alianza, they provide a safe bed and high-quality services for minors, ages 12-17, who are experiencing homelessness, human trafficking, and exploitation. If you’d like to join us for the call, please RSVP to rsvp@covenanthouse.org, call 212-727-4064, or visit www.covenanthouse.org/oct-teletownhall.