Covenant House Step Up for Street Kids 5K walk

For the first time, a group of current and former Covenant House residents will be joining the 4^th annual Covenant House Step Up for Street Kids 5K walk. The youth/alumni team will be led by a young lady named Michelle.

The walk begins and ends at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto this Saturday (Nov. 12.) and there will be pizza, snacks, music and information on Covenant House available for participants and supporters alike.

The afternoon kicks off at 1:30 p.m. with a performance by  5^th Avenue, while walkers register. Opening ceremonies start at 3 p.m. with CityNews reporter Anna Vlachos as the host and Habitual Fitness from Mississauga, ON, pumping up the crowd.  The route sticks to the downtown core, where Starbucks will have 10 warming stations set up along the way.

Covenant House was founded in 1972 and has since helped millions of kids with branches in the United States, Canada and Central America. It is the largest privately-funded agency in the Americas providing food, shelter, immediate crisis care, and essential services to homeless kids.

In Toronto alone, some 2000 kids sleep on the streets, according to the stats provided by Convent House.  Last year, about 4,000 kids utilized the services at Covenant House, including shelter, education, healthcare, counselling and employment assistance. The organization relies on donors for more than 80 percent of its $18.8-million operating budget.