Covenant House Newsroom

Years ago, before virtual meetings became the norm, Covenant House’s Sleep Out team signed onto a WebEx video call hosted by Rachael Chambers and a dozen other volunteer leaders from Cisco. That meeting would kick-off Cisco’s company-wide involvement in the Sleep Out movement — a partnership that would go on to raise more than $5.7 million for youth overcoming homelessness. 

Rachael’s leadership has been instrumental in the growth of this grassroots movement; as a 5-time Sleeper and team captain as well as a company leader, she has been the force centering the Cisco and Covenant House partnership around all that is possible for young people overcoming homelessness. When asked why she returns each year, Rachael recounts the story of a young woman she met at her first Sleep Out in Oakland, whom she says she thinks of every time she lies down in her sleeping bag.

All those who know Rachael personally will confirm that she has unbridled enthusiasm and endless devotion to everything she puts her mind to. Her parents taught her an Angela Davis quote that she still lives by to this day: “I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change…I’m changing the things I cannot accept.” 

Much like the pioneering advocates whom she admires, Rachael stands up for what is right when the road to success is anything but easy. She uses her voice to drive change and speaks up for underrepresented communities using her heart and moral compass to guide her. Rachael’s advice is to “find the good in the world and amplify it in the most genuine and authentic way you can. If we could all accomplish this goal, just think of what we could do together!”

As a leader at Cisco, she has encouraged her fellow volunteers and community members by telling them to “always lead with kindness, compassion and a willingness to listen first.  Every person you meet in this world has a story to tell filled with love, success, struggle, failure and a desire to matter in some way. Raise each person that you meet up with respect and unconditional love. We are all humans on this journey together…be someone that was kind.  It feels better for everyone involved!”

When the pandemic hit, Rachael and the Cisco team responded by ensuring that our teams had access to WebEx, which we used to host our first virtual Sleep Out in March of 2020. The Cisco community rallied, recruiting more than 650 people on 24 teams from 36 states and seven countries to Sleep Out that November (the largest company Sleep Out team that has ever assembled!) and raising $2.2 million for young people facing homelessness. 

Rachael was once-again at the helm, despite a difficult year of her own. In August 2020, she underwent life-saving surgery at Stanford Hospital to remove stage 1 colon cancer. Only a few weeks later, she began joining team meetings again. In Rachael’s words, “I am alive and can give back in some small measure. What I don’t have time for is self-pity — there’s still so much to do.” Read more about Rachael’s health journey in the blog post she wrote for Cisco’s Newsroom last month. 

In February 2021, Rachael started a new role on Cisco’s People and Communities team as a Director in the Office of Transformation. Her Covenant House family has no doubt that she’ll continue to play an integral role in transforming the lives of her colleagues, partners, and our young people.