On Thursday, May 5, 2016 mothers are sleeping on the street for one night; to be vulnerable so that homeless youth can be safe.  Richmond Hospital surgeon Dr. Robyn Watts will be one of those moms.

“We’ll be 25 women from different backgrounds who don’t know each other,” she said. “But we all have kids and we all believe it’s really important that these kids – because they’re somebody’s kids — have a place to go where people care about what happens to them.”

The Mom’s Sleep Out is an annual event of Covenant House Vancouver. Covenant House exists for those young people for whom there is often no one else; young people aged 16 – 25 who have fled physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse, those who have been forced from their homes or those who have aged out of foster care.

The moms’ overnight street-sleep is not about pretending to be homeless. Instead, it’s about showing a group of young people that they are worthy of unconditional love and absolute respect, and proving that there are enough people out there who care about them to be uncomfortable for one night.

So far, Watts has raised $8,000 for Covenant House’s annual fundraiser.

“I can sleep on a piece of cardboard in an alley for one night easy,” Watts said. “I’m pretty tough, and this is for a great cause.”

You can view Robyn Watts’ fundraising page here:

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1153935&supId=433933635