Young Professionals To Experience Homelessness For One Night For Fundraiser

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A New York City homeless shelter is flipping the script for a fundraiser planned for later this week.

On Friday, March 22, almost 200 young professionals will experience homelessness for one night. The participants will sleep outside Covenant House on West 41st Street as part of the organization's first ever Sleep Out: Young Professionals Edition.

"We provide food, clothing and shelter but we've become much more than that," Covenant House Vice President for Development Tod Monaghan told CBS 2's Cindy Hsu.

Monaghan said the shelter offers young homeless people counseling and tools for finding employment and education opportunities.

According to city officials, there are 15,000 homeless teens and children in New York City annually. Covenant House reaches out to about 5,000 of those homeless young people, Monaghan told Hsu.

"It takes a village. This is the greatest city in the world, our kids have been forced to cope with difficult circumstances and it's just really inspiring," Monaghan said.

Covenant House said it hopes to raise $187,000 for this sleep out. For more information on the event and how to contribute, click here.

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