Loyal to the cause
Covenant House is grateful to have the ongoing support of LoyaltyOne as a corporate giving partner. From generous annual funding to employee volunteering, it’s a relationship that has been mutually enriching, notes Senior Vice President, Caroline Papadatos.
Below are some of Papadatos’ reflections on our partnership and on the power of collaboration to support youth who are homeless, trafficked or at risk.
I first heard about Covenant House when a good friend signed up for the Sleep-Out event and asked me to join the team. It was an eye-opening experience.
I spend a lot of my time travelling and presenting at business conferences around the world. It’s rare to have an opportunity to get face-to-face time with young people from my own community like this event offers. To have that unique opportunity to spend time with Covenant House counsellors and the youth themselves, hearing their stories and learning about their life journeys . . . it really hit home for me, especially as a mom to three kids of my own.
It was just one night, nothing like what these young people go through over weeks and months, but it gives you a very real glimpse into life on the street.
Covenant House’s Sleep Out event linked up with a lot of the things that I’m passionate about in life and also dovetails with LoyaltyOne’s corporate responsibility focus on youth empowerment. Youth homelessness and trafficking are issues that matter a lot to our associates. At LoyaltyOne, we believe that young people are the future and this is a feeling that is shared by the thousands of Canadians we engage with every day.
Our aim is to make a meaningful difference in the lives of 100,000 young people by the year 2020. Covenant House aligns perfectly with that goal in how it delivers critical services to so many youth in crisis.
As parents and family members ourselves, we wouldn’t sleep well at night knowing there are so many young people who literally can’t sleep at night because of the struggles they are going through. Together, we are helping them rediscover the possibilities in their lives.