Toronto’s Top Execs to Sleep Outside for Homeless Kids

If you thought your morning walk to work was cold today, that’s nothing compared to what 75 of Toronto’s top business and community leaders will brave tomorrow night when the temperatures drop well below zero. 

Which is exactly what far too many homeless teens in Canada face EVERY NIGHT. 

Armed with just sleeping bags and cardboard, the execs will forgo the comforts of their warm, plush beds and spend the night outside to raise awareness and support for Covenant House

A longtime Toronto lifeline for homeless teens, Covenant is the country’s largest agency for homeless youth. It offers a range of services under one roof to help the 3,000 teens it serves annually turn their lives around.

This is the third year that some of the city’s most influential have taken on the Canadian winter in support of the cause.

Led by Belinda Stronach (co-chairman and president, The Stronach Group and founder, The Belinda Stronach Foundation) and Tim Leiweke (MLSE president and CEO), participants in the Covenant House Executive Sleep Out hope to raise more than $800,000. 

To date, the event has raised more than $1.3 million.

Stronach and Leiweke will be joined by Patrick Nangle, Purolator president; Police Chief Bill Blair; Prospero Pictures Founder and President, Canada, Martin Katz; Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Wealth Management, CIBC, Steve Geist; Justine Deluce, COO, Chestnut Park Real Estate Limited; Diane Brisebois, president and CEO of Retail Council of Canada, and Event Committee Chair Duncan Hannay, president, Davis & Henderson Ltd.

The highly publicized initiative has not only raised funds, but it has also brought awareness to the often-overlooked problem of youth homelessness.

And if you don’t think it’s a problem, we’ll leave you with this: 

There are as many as 2,000 homeless kids in Toronto on any given night.

And it’s damn cold outside. 

#NOTABLE

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Cover image from: istock.com/batdelfuego99