Virtual candlelight vigil to help Covenant House and teens in need to be held Nov. 19

"So for Christmas, I want to do this thing for helping the homeless," said Evan Lange.

That's Amy Lange's 10-year-old nephew and her other nephew Ryan, is 13. They live in Indiana and they're concerned about homelessness.

"They needed food - they needed clothes, they need underwear, hand warmers," Evan said. 

Evan's already working on supplies for a shelter in need of donations. But Amy wanted to let them know about another shelter - one that's near and dear to her heart:  Covenant House Michigan - a home for homeless youth ages 18 to 24.

"Right now the statistic is at 4.2 million young people are homeless throughout the country for one reason or another," said Gerry Piro, from Covenant House Michigan.

Piro, the executive director there, says many kids come from foster care and others from broken families.

During this National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, Thursday, Nov. 19th is the day we highlight youth homelessness and the Covenant House locations across the country helping young people.

Each year Amy Lange helps emcee the event in Detroit with channel 955's Shannon Murphy - but this year we're raising awareness and funds with a virtual candlelight vigil - followed by a sleepout you can do right at your home - all to help pay for the food, shelter, clothing, counseling, and education provided to the young people at Covenant House Michigan so they can get on their feet and succeed.

"Our residential advisors and everyone else that is working with these young people - they see them almost as their own, and that really is kind of the secret sauce," Piro said.

The virtual vigil is a great opportunity to get even more people involved from all over. Invite your friends, your family - get your kids involved - or in Amy's case - her nephews.

Go to Sleepout.org to register or donate.

"We would be eternally grateful because every little bit does help us work with these young people," Piro said.

And don't forget to join them for the candlelight vigil at 6 p.m. Thursday at covenanthousemi.org or live on Facebook at Covenant House Michigan.