Yankee's General Manager Brian Cashman spends a night on the street to help the homeless in New York City
The numbers in New York City are daunting. In September of 2018, more than 63,000 people spent a night in a city-run shelter. Almost 23,000 of them were children. The state education department says more than 114,000 students was identified as homeless during the 2017-18 school year. That's ten percent of those enrolled in the cities public schools.
Those numbers would fill Yankee Stadium. Brian Cashman, the New York Yankee's General Manager, decided to try to do something about this.
Covenant House is a non-profit that started in the city in 1972. It's the largest provider of homeless youth services in New York City.
Cashman was introduced to Covenant House by one of his college classmates, Kevin Ryan.
"He did a smart thing," Cashman said. "He said, 'Come on down to the shelter and see what we've got going on.' After that, I was hooked. Thankfully, the Steinbrenner family and the Yankees have allowed their brand to hook up with this brand, to share the story of Covenant House to a much broader audience."
Ryan is now president and CEO of Covenant House. Cashman is on the board of directors. This year the Yankees donated $25,000.
For the last seven years, Cashman has held the "Sleep Out" fundraiser. Business executives who raise more than $5,000 each, are invited to spend a night outside on a sidewalk with Cashman. It's a way to show them what the conditions are like for someone who has to sleep on the street. They also can speak with and exchange stories with the youths from the Covenant House.
This year, sleep outs were held in nineteen U.S. and Canadian cities. The event in New York raised more than $1M for Covenant House.
Brian Cashman has been in charge of Yankee baseball operations since 1996. In that time, they've six American League pennants and four World Series championships. But helping to win the fight against homelessness may be his greatest victory.
Related Post: Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon helps the homeless again
This is another piece in the ongoing series Faces of Homelessness
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