Executives sleep out to raise awareness for youth homelessness

(WJBK) - Across the U.S. and Canada, dedicated men and women are sleeping out for one night, raising critical funds and awareness, to make sure these kids have a safe place to stay at Covenant House every night.

More than $6 million was raised across 16 different sites for Covenant House.

"It was dark and cold and chilly, and all we could think about was the kids and that's what kept us going, knowing, hearing their stories earlier, hearing what they go through. The whole time [ we were] in there, we were just trying to put ourselves in their shoes and in much colder situations, without any of the warmth that we have, and just being really inspired by the fact that we really need to do more to help this horrible situation that's going on in our city. It was moving," Nadia Mekled from Toll Brothers told FOX 2's Robin Murdoch.

"They're invisible right now. We're not seeing them; people are not noticing them. We don't realize the problem that we have with 5,000 of them sleeping out at night. NOW, THIS IS the awareness; this is our job now to make sure that we spread the word, get the help, pay it forward, make it happen, help these kids. They deserve it."

To learn more, or to make a donation, visit www.covenanthouse.org.