Covenant House Newsroom

When the COVID-19 virus raged into all our lives in March 2020, life changed drastically at Covenant House, from the way we accept young people experiencing homelessness into our programs, to our safety protocols, to our staffing. 

For young people experiencing homelessness, the pandemic added more trauma and stress. In addition to the trauma many have faced prior to the pandemic, they now had the fear of a public health crisis. It was critical that Covenant House continued to stay open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide nourishing meals, clothing, safe housing and all our other essential services. It was also critical we provided additional mental health and spiritual care for young people experiencing the trauma of the pandemic.

In July of 2020, critically needed support to keep the doors open at Covenant House came from the Winston Salem Foundation (WSF) and Truist Bank (Truist).

“This support from WSF and Truist could not have come at a better time,” said Covenant House President Kevin Ryan. “These funds have been critical to the health and well-being of our young people during this extraordinary year. We’ve been able to keep youth safe, healthy, and well-nourished. We are so grateful for their support and partnership.”

In this first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Covenant House programs reached over 18,000 young people across six countries, keeping our doors open 24/7. Even in the face of the pandemic, 2,000 youth enrolled in school or onsite educational programs, 1,900 engaged in on-site job readiness programs and 1,200 obtained employment. 

Truist’s support was focused on programs in six of our Covenant House programs. During the pandemic, on average, more than 700 young people lived with us each month at our houses in Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington DC.  These young people stood up, stood strong, and fought back with grit and grace, determined to build the futures they have dreamed of.   They demonstrated their resilience and strength by adjusting to the “new normal” that required masks and social distancing, new hygiene protocols, telehealth appointments and virtual mental health counseling, and virtual programming to advance both their education and their employment prospects.

The impact of COVID-19 on our meal service was unprecedented.

The loss of jobs and the switch to virtual schooling meant that many more young people ate all their meals with us seven days a week.  Many of our youth who typically rely on breakfasts and lunches provided by their schools could no longer access those meals while participating in virtual classrooms.

Similarly, young people who were previously employed and were not reliant on Covenant House for food services during their shifts were with us at mealtime.

At the height of the crisis, our in-house food services teams were ordering and preparing hot meals for sometimes up to three times the number of young people that would typically eat in our residences during the day. 

Our Covenant Houses in Georgia and Florida and other sites also provided food baskets and bags of groceries for former residents who had moved into transitional living programs or their own homes but experienced financial difficulties due to job loss or reduction in hours.  

Over the last year, we served more than 415,000 meals to young people in Covenant Houses in Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington DC, where the grant funds were directed. Truist's support helped that happen, and we are so very grateful.

The funds from this grant supported not just meals for youth in our shelters, but youth living independently in apartments, who perhaps were no longer in school due to COVID, or had lost their jobs. With the additional support, we were able to make sure that youth in our apartments had food delivered to them, and we were able to purchase the supplies that enabled them to cook their meals.  

“Thanks to the support from WSF and Truist, young people at Covenant House in Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC were able not only to be safe but to thrive,” said Ryan. “This support helped us to meet the demands of COVID-19 to supply more meals to young people, create and equip safe isolation spaces for symptomatic youth, and ensure around-the-clock presence and care by our dedicated staff. It is this type of partnership that gives our young people the opportunity to pursue the great promise of their lives.”