They slept out in the cold Germantown night to raise $55K for homeless youths
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Cordish Cos. proposed a partnership with the owner of Bensalem's Parx to build a casino on Packer Ave. and 10th streets. (Kimberly Paynter/for NewsWorks)
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The former site of the Daily News and Inquirer at Broad and Callowhill streets. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
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U.S. Rep. Bob Brady is advocating to build a city run casino at the site of the old food distribution center at Parker Ave. and 3rd streets but has not yet submitted a proposal. (Kimberly Paynter/for NewsWorks)
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Casino developer Steve Wynn has said that he wants to build along the Delaware River in Fishtown, near Penn Treaty Park. (Kimberly Paynter/for NewsWorks)
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<p>The Goldenberg Group applied for the license to build on the parking lot at 8th and Market streets, the site of the failed DisneyQuest project in the early 2000's. (Kimberly Paynter/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>A light reception followed the candlelight vigil offering attendees warmth and snacks. A round table discussion between CHPA residents and the "sleeper" shortly followed. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Business leaders and executives meet each other and prepare to spend a cold night outside to raise their own awareness and bring attention and money to end the plight of homelessness. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Cordella Hill, executive director of Covenant House (second from left), and the others head outside. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>(R-L) A journalist for One Step Away, Philadelphia's first newspaper produced by those without homes for those with homes, interviews Anthony Pensabene of Skyrocket SEO. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Spirits are high as Wil Reynolds, left, founder of SEER Interactive, and Heather Hansen, right, gear up for a frigid night out. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>The first annual "Sleep Out" begins. Covenant House provided cardboard boxes and a kit that they hand out to homeless youth. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>The crowd. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Attendees took turns holding the "Homeless for the Holidays" sign. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>The Rev. Alyn E. Waller of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church (third from left) greets business leaders and executives preparing to spend a cold night outside to raise their own awareness and bring attention and money to end the plight of homelessness. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Cordella Hill settles in with a few elements of home. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>The "Sleepers" set up their beds for the night. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>One 'Sleeper' seems to contemplate the night ahead of him as another settles into his boxed-bed with his laptop. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>The crowd assembles outside Covenant House in Germantown. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
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<p>Local police officers take part in the candlelight vigil at Covenant House on Thursday night to raise awareness of homeless youth in Philadelphia. (Anna Flint/for NewsWorks)</p>
Jaileah Gibson, a 19-year-old at the Covenant House in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, told her life story to a group of community members, homeless advocates and a range of people on Thursday night.
The assembled audience members were all there to sleep out in the bitter cold to raise funds and bring awareness to the plight of homeless youth in Philadelphia and throughout the country. The message meshed with the event.
“People always say to me, ‘You live in a shelter, but why are you always smiling?'” Gibson said. “It’s just a mask and I’m going to keep wearing this mask until you get to know my story and understand it. I have only have told three people, and now I’m telling you guys.”
Raising funds and awareness
Last year, Covenant House held a Sleep Out event in New York. It brought major executives, CEOs and other community leaders out in the cold to raise half a million dollars for homeless youth. This year, 12 Covenant Houses around the country are participating.
In Philadelphia, Thursday was the first-ever event. There, a candlelight vigil was held in the front of Covenant House where Jaileah told her story.
Then, Covenant House’s Associate Director Hugh Organ read a list of names of homeless youth who had died this year in Philadelphia. Pastor David Maddox ended the vigil with everyone singing “This Little Light of Mine.”
Gibson’s story reminded many of the Covenant House staff and sleepers why they were bringing awareness to the issues of homeless youth.
She described the journey of her mother’s battles with drugs, multiple evictions and her death while Gibson was living in the Covenant House. Today, Gibson works two jobs, is in school and is getting her own apartment in two weeks.
“She’s unbelievable,” said Heather Hansen, a partner in the law firm O’Brien and Ryan, LLC and one of Philadelphia’s “sleepers.” Hansen donated funds to the Sleep Out but also wanted to actively participate.
“I felt like it was a good opportunity to share just a little bit of their experience and take a little bit less for granted,” she said. “They are so many things that we take for granted that kids like them are thankful for. Since I signed up for it, every night I get into bed thinking about how my bed is so comfortable and awesome.”
A wide range of sleepers
Thursday night’s “sleepers” ranged from senior executives at local banks to social media gurus, and Covenant House staff to Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church members and pastors, according to Janet Weyers, Covenant House’s development director.
“The response has been amazing,” Weyers said. “We currently have 17 sleepers and have raised $55,000. It’s a really wide range we pulled together and they’re all coming to support homeless youth in the community.”
Cordella Hill, Covenant House’s executive director, was also sleeping out.
Hill, who jokingly said she was hoping she would be able to walk in the morning, asked Wil Reynolds, a part of the Young Professionals Board at Covenant House, to join them.
Reynolds founded SEER Interactive, a web marketing and analytics company that has been on the Philly 100 Fastest Growing Companies for the last four years.
“I thought, ‘How could I not?'” Reynolds recounted. “I think it’s so easy to give lip service, myself included, to being involved and wanting to do things.
To walk in somebody’s shoes and see what it’s like for one night,” he continued, “hopefully, it will help me get a better idea of what all the work I’ve been doing is actually for and what these kids are going through.”
Other Philadelphia sleepers included Frank McGrane, Senior VP of Corporate Banking at Citizen’s Bank; Terry Delaney, former financial executive at Sunoco and Covenant House board member; and Pastor Dr. Alyn Waller of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church.
The “mask” of homelessness
In Covenant House’s cafeteria, Sleep Out participants shared cookies, hot chocolate and stories with more of the youth as they prepared for the long night ahead.
The Covenant House provided the sleepers with cardboard, extra sleeping bags and red “goodie bags” filled with non-perishable snacks, hygiene products and emergency information. Those are the same bags they hand out to youths they find on the streets.
“I always considered it as a mask,” said Jaileah Gibson, talking about homelessness. “I feel like I can finally take it off.
“The only reason I haven’t taken it off is the fear of being judged,” she continued. “For a while, I’ve been wearing this mask. Every day when I’m traveling on the bus and I see homeless people sitting on the corners … that’s my biggest fear. To be homeless to the point of living on the streets.”
And out they went
The Covenant House parking lot provided sleepers a small taste of what living on the streets would feel like.
As the temperature dropped, sleepers set up their small spaces against the parking-lot wall, gathering layers around them, and sometimes huddled around the lights of iPads and e-readers.
It would be a long, cold night.
Pastor David Maddox gave the sleepers some final thoughts and blessings before they settled in.
“As you are out there, alone, and on a cold ground, think of our kids and how the community brought them, in various ways, here to us at Covenant House,” he said. “And as you are out there, know too that you are in community, if that makes any sense.”
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