Earlier this week, UnitedHealthcare, the Dreambuilders Foundation and NY Jets wide receiver, Breshad Perriman, donated close to 100 duffle bags filled with personal supplies to Covenant House New York (CHNY), a citywide shelter system for homeless teens and young adults.

 

UnitedHealthcare contributed $15,000 to provide much needed toiletries and everyday supplies to the shelter system, which includes CHNY’s Rights of Passage transitional living program site in Westchester Square in the Bronx, where 96 residents are located.

 

Perriman joined UnitedHealthcare of New York CEO, Michael McGuire, at UHC’s New Jersey office earlier this week to assemble the duffle bags. All 96 duffle bags were later delivered to CHNY’s Rights of Passage location at 2501 Glebe Avenue in the Bronx by Nov. 19, in separate batches to maintain social distancing in light of the growing number of coronavirus cases across the city.

According to Covenant House, the statistics relating to youth homelessness are staggering.

 

• 57% of homeless kids spend at least one day every month without food.
• In the United States, as many as 20,000 kids are forced into prostitution by human trafficking networks every year.
• According to a study of youth in shelters, nearly 50% reported intense conflict or physical harm by a family member as a major contributing factor to their homelessness.
• More than 25% of former foster children become homeless within two to four years of leaving the system.
• 50% of adolescents aging out of foster care and juvenile justice systems will be homeless within six months because they are unprepared to live independently and have limited education and no social support.
• Almost 40% of the homeless in the United States are under 18.

 

In addition to these statistics, a recent study by the Covenant House Institute revealed that:

 

• 41% of Covenant House kids witnessed acts of violence in their homes.
• 36% of Covenant House kids indicated that someone in their family used drugs regularly.
• 19% of Covenant House kids reported being beaten with an object.
• 19% of Covenant House kids reported that they have endured sexual abuse.
• 15% of Covenant House kids reported that someone close to them had been murdered.

 

As the largest provider of runaway and homeless youth services in New York City, CHNY is open 24 hours a day, and serves over 1,900 young adults aged between 16 and 24 every year. The donated supplies will help sustain day-to-day needs, make living spaces more comfortable, and support CHNY’s work in providing mental health support, education, financial literacy, legal services and job training for young people in need.

 

Nancy Downing, executive director at CHNY, said she was deeply grateful to UnitedHealthcare, the Dreambuilders Foundation and Breshad Perriman for helping to provide welcome kits to youth living at the shelter, as well as the provision of household goods for youth in transitional living, which she said created a comfortable home setting for them. “In creating a bridge from homeless to hope, from the streets to success, how we welcome each youth is so important, as is providing a homelike environment,” Downing said.

The Dreambuilders Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works with professional athletes across the country to help financially, physically and mentally-challenged kids receive the items, opportunities and equipment they need to reach their dreams.

 

Meanwhile, UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers.

 

In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.3 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide.