Anywhere on your school’s property; your gym, front foyer, courtyard or even in the great outdoors!
Schools are welcome to participate any time during the school year. Many choose to coordinate their Sleep Out: Student Edition with curriculum that deals with service, social justice or community service programs.
A piece of cardboard and a blanket or sleeping bag. A complete list of items will be provided.
No. Each participant is responsible for bringing their own piece of cardboard to sleep on along with a sleeping bag or blanket. We encourage participants to leave behind any comfort items such as pillows & sleeping mats. This is so students have a relatable experience and get a glimpse into what a night sleeping on the street as a homeless youth would actually be like.
Covenant House is here to provide you with the tools and support you’ll need for a successful, impactful event for participating students. We would also love to offer our time to come and speak with students about homelessness, social services in our community and how their participation in Sleep Out: Student Edition will impact the youth who call Covenant House home.
The number of supervisors required for your event will vary depending on your school’s policies and the total number of participants.
$200 or more! This is because it costs about $200 to provide 24 hours of care for one youth in the shelter at Covenant House. The shelter here is much more than a bed. Youth are able to access hot meals and support 24/7 along with services that help youth recover from their past and work towards a brighter future away from the street. You can set the overall (school) goal on the school page and each student sets their goal on their individual fundraising pages.
We strongly recommend that if a student does not reach $200 they refrain from sleeping out. Two hundred dollars is the cost for Covenant House to provide shelter for one youth, for one night. Along with the experience students will have sleeping out, it is our hope that they will develop a deeper understanding of homelessness and about giving back to their peers.
We encourage schools to have a minimum of 10 students in order to ensure that students have a great collective Sleep Out experience from start to finish. We find that larger student Sleep Out groups create a lot of momentum within the group itself, the school and the community at large.
Each school and each participating student have their own individual online fundraising page right here on this site where supporters can go to make donations. We encourage students to use the online portal to its full extent; it makes “collecting” donations a piece of cake, receipting instantaneous and goal tracking automatic. This system minimizes work on your end and administration costs on our end.
We will provide a donation tracking form for such gifts. Receipting will take up to 4 weeks to complete once the gift has been received by Covenant House.
Online gifts of any amount will be receipted. Only offline gifts over $25 will be receipted.
Online donations will automatically be receipted and sent to the donor by email. Cash and cheque donations will be receipted and mailed to the donor’s home within 4 weeks of their gift being received by Covenant House Vancouver.
Online! Ask everyone you know! Email them! Share your knowledge on homeless issues! Bust the myths out there! Talk about what you’re doing to help! Advocate for disadvantaged youth who need love and support!
Your personal fundraising webpage will track your donations for you. You will be able to see who donated and how much they contributed. You can always increase your fundraising goal if you hit $200 quickly!
Your school's team page will do this for you. Each student's personal page will also track their progress toward their personal goal.