Teens, executives spend cold nights outside to show solidarity with Detroit’s homeless

Metro Detroit — For Cabrini High School senior Liz Misovich, the problem of homelessness became more real than she’d ever imagined as she participated in her parish’s annual “Night in a Box” awareness event.

As Misovich and nearly 70 other high school students were preparing their cardboard shelters to sleep outside Nov. 8, an unexpected visitor was also looking for shelter that night.

The homeless woman who appeared on the campus of St. Frances Cabrini Parish that night was “actually looking for a place to be,” said Misovich, who has participated in the Covenant House Michigan-sponsored event for the past five years.

Misovich’s 11th-grade classmate and fellow Night in a Box participant Emma Gallagher said the woman “was homeless and in an abusive relationship and had traveled from Detroit all the way to Taylor” before stopping at St. Frances Cabrini.



Therese Tardiff, the parish’s coordinator of Christian service and youth ministry, said the woman’s presence was a blessing for both the 70 people participating in the Night in a Box and the woman herself.

“She offered to sleep in a box with us because I explained what we were doing, and she said, ‘Well, I can sleep in a box,’” said Tardiff, who helped organize the event that drew four youth groups from the Downriver Vicariate. “And I said ‘No, you’re not sleeping in a box!”

Tardiff said the parish gave the woman a meal, and she slept in the church’s Holy Family Hall for the night. The next day, after eating breakfast together, the participants helped her find a homeless shelter.

Alyssa Geschke, a freshman at Cabrini, said the parish also provided the woman with clean clothes, and Geschke’s parents took the woman’s own clothing to wash and return the following morning.

The evening as a whole provided for deep reflection for the Cabrini youth and teens from Christ the Good Shepherd, Lincoln Park; St. Cyprian, Riverview; and Sacred Heart, Grosse Ile.

“It makes you realize how great you have it compared to some people,” said senior Anna Randt.

In addition to the evening outside, the event also welcomed two formerly homeless Covenant House residents who shared what it was like to live on the streets.

Jessica Campoy, a senior, said she was moved that a young woman who spoke about her experiences “didn’t let her past determine who she was as a person.”

The busy evening also included decorating brown bags to contain lunches for the needy, to be given out on New Year’s Day; making tiny dolls out of socks for impoverished children overseas receiving vaccinations; and separating bags of candy to give to a local soup kitchen.

The four youth groups also managed to raise $275 to donate to Covenant House, helping it serve nearly 5,000 homeless youths around Metro Detroit.

“People in the parish remember it,” said senior Emily Maynor, recalling a time she was out to eat in her Cabrini uniform, and fellow parishioner recognized her and asked about the Night in a Box.

Tardiff was impressed by the willingness of the local youth to take action for the homeless.

“It was just a little teeny glimpse of what people experience each day,” she said.

 



From corner office to cardboard box

Meanwhile, the youths weren’t the only ones sleeping outside to raise money and awareness; Mike Ritchie, president of Comerica Bank — Michigan Market, was one of several Catholic executives and business owners who participated in Covenant House’s “Sleep Out: Executive Edition” on a decidedly frigid and snowy Nov. 20.

Held at the Detroit campus of Covenant House Michigan, the Sleep Out also included reflections with Covenant House’s youth, a meal and tour of the facilities, and an evening spent outside in the icy temperatures with little more than a sleeping bag and cardboard box for protection.

Melissa Golpe, marketing/public relations director of Covenant House Michigan, told The Michigan Catholic that the 41 executives who participated managed to raise $211,000 as of Nov. 21, “and it’s still climbing.”

Ritchie, a parishioner of St. Joseph Parish in Trenton, had learned about the Sleep Out from his friend Dan Weingartz.

“Awareness certainly is the main aim of the Sleep Out,” said Ritchie, adding that in his personal experience “when you’re asked to do something, if you say yes, it’s amazing what the Holy Spirit does.”

Ritchie said that there are numerous references to the poor in the teachings of the Catholic Church, and that “we are called to help the poor and show compassion for the poor.”

He said it is high time “for those of us in privileged positions to pray about, think about and invest our time in” serving the least of the community.

Laura Vogel, associate general counsel of AAA’s Auto Club Group, said she hoped the Sleep Out would bring a greater awareness of Covenant House and what it does.

“Many people don’t know it exists,” said Vogel, a parishioner of Holy Spirit Parish in Highland Park who has helped organize events feeding the homeless in Cass Park every second and fourth Sunday of the month, for nearly four years.

Vogel extended the invitation to everyone and explained that the events begin at 11 a.m. and contributors provide “real food that you’d want to eat,” not just “bologna sandwiches in a wrapper.”

Regarding the 10-degree temperatures, Vogel pointed out: “I only have to do it for one night. I am lucky enough to have a known time when I will not have to sleep outside.”

Weingartz, president of Weingartz Supply Co. and parishioner of St. Lawrence Parish, Utica, said the Sleep Out is a “great way to show commitment” to the needs of homeless youth — both materially and financially.

Weingartz is also board president of Covenant House Academy in Grand Rapids, which assists the educational efforts of Covenant House youth.

He told The Michigan Catholic prior to the Sleep Out that “it’ll be no picnic, but I think it’s a great way for us who have been given a lot in the world to show some solidarity with kids who haven’t had an easy life.”

He added that if people are going to be drawn to the faith, “I believe they’ve got to see Catholics who live their faith.”