An Intern's Perspective of Covenant House Michigan

Living Out a Mission

As a relatively new intern at CHM, I am constantly impressed with the mission we have here. Daily I interact with multiple staff members and see the determination, dedication, and love that they bring to the kids who come to Covenant House.

It is not everywhere you go that you can really say that the mission is inside; that the mission comes from the hearts of each of the people working there, but here I see it every day.
Each day that I come to CHM I see more evidence of the importance of touching one life. While we are constantly helping multiple kids, and referring many others for service, one simple reality sticks out; the value of a single life.

In our biannual staff meeting, Sam Joseph, our Executive Director, reminded us of the many kids who come to us ready, who just need that push over the edge. Those kids who have seen the rough side of life and decided they want more but they are discouraged and sometimes hopeless. He reminded us to be alert for them, to recognize their ambition and to reach out to give them our support and encouragement. It is only in seeing the potential, the yearning that they exhibit, the personal determination to finish their high school diploma, or ambition to spruce up their resume, that we will know they are ready. We can’t miss these moments, these opportunities to reach out and tell them we believe in their ability to reach for the next goal.

Sometimes it is easy to only look at statistics, to see hard numbers of graduates or employed former residents. It is good to have these numbers that spell success, but we can’t allow these figures to obscure another reality. Every life that is changed here is worth all the time, effort, and love that we can give. What we sometimes forget is that for every life that we touch, every kid that we help succeed, every person who walks away from here believing in himself, there are countless other lives that these individual will touch when they leave. So although we count graduations, job records, and permanent housing solutions, we will never be able to track the coworkers, family, friends, and children of our former residents whose lives will be changed because they were here. Thank you Covenant House for what you do and thank you for the privilege of being a part of this work.