Covenant House Sleep Out

NJ ROP SLEEPERS  A group from Madison participated in Covenant House’s Sleep Out. (From left) Matt Langan, Kurt Jacobson, John Tamburro, Kevin Kraska, Msgr. George Hundt, Charlie Horsey, Ken Wasik, Tim Maseker, Chris Donato, Jim Cowan, Rich Tobin, Chris Conroy, Gerard Watson, Mark Durham, Kevin Lamb, Raymond Dente. (Kneeling) Jennifer Cox and Emily Harris.

MADISON  Imagine facing the reality more than 2 million youth experience each year in the United States — finding themselves out on the streets and homeless.

Msgr. George Hundt, pastor of St. Vincent Martyr Parish here and a group of parishioners from Madison and other local parishes, volunteered to experience what it was to sleep out on the streets of New York City in solidarity with homeless children and youth Nov. 17.

The pastor and parishioners participated in the Covenant House Sleep Out, a movement sponsored by Covenant House, which provides shelter, food, immediate crisis care and an array of other services to homeless and runaway youth. The goal of the sleep out is to give an opportunity for people to make an immediate and lasting impact on the homeless young people who live at Covenant House in cities around the U.S. and world. The 18 volunteers from Madison, calling themselves the “N.J. Rights of Passage Sleepers” raised more than $167,583 for Covenant House. In 16 cities around the United States where the Sleep Outs were held, more than $6.3 million was raised for Covenant House.

Msgr. Hundt said he was inspired to participate through the words and example of Pope Francis. “He has profoundly challenged me to be with and for our brothers and sisters who are in need. He has called me to go out into places where suffering exists and to be the healing and helping presence of Christ, bringing warmth and hope to young people who need it most,” said Msgr. Hundt.

At the start of the sleep out, the team from Madison gathered at Covenant House, located on the west side of midtown Manhattan near Port Authority and marched in a candlelight vigil to Herald Square listening to talks from homeless youths; and also from Brian Cashman, general manager of the New York Yankees, and Deepak Chopra, an alternative medicine advocate.

Gerard Watson, a member of the Madison team and a parishioner of Corpus Christi Church in Chatham Township, participated in the sleep out for the third time. “After we made our away back to the crisis center following the vigil, Father George gave an opening reflection that put things in perspective. I took away an important message as Father George talked about an uncertain future in the U.S. and uncertain future of the homeless — that we live in a community of caring and that we had all taken the conscious decision to be part of that community of caring.”

With a cardboard box as shelter for the night, the sleep out was more than just pretending what it was like to be homeless because it showed a group of youths unconditional love and respect. The Madison group joined 187 sleepers, mostly consisting of executives, business owners and leaders of organizations as they sleep outside of New York’s Covenant House.

Throughout the night, many of the sleepers realized how fortunate they are with health, employment and family — a contrast to the 300 youths currently staying at the crisis center.

“Perhaps the most important thing is the gift you get from sleeping out,” Watson said. “The next morning, around 5:30 a.m. we all shuffled from our spot on the street back into the crisis center where Jim White, (head of Covenant House) asked ‘Who got the gift?’ Because this was my third sleep out, I knew that the gift was the incredible feeling that you get from doing something really meaningful for someone in need. The gift is hard to explain, like a runner’s high, a warm fulfillment, a sense of wellbeing. Perhaps it is like when the Grinch experienced his heart growing three times its original size.”

Because the experience was so positive in raising funds for homeless youths and bringing awareness to the mission of Covenant House, Msgr. Hundt hopes to participate in the sleep out again.

“I felt the support of the people from St. Vincent’s as we brought awareness the weeks before about the sleep out. This was a very powerful experience and a huge outreach for so many young people in need,” he said.