Bill McMahon will celebrate his 42nd birthday tonight by going homeless.
The president of the McMahon Insurance Agency and Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce will sleep on the ground in Atlantic City for one night on Thursday as so many less fortunate people do every night.
McMahon is participating in the Covenant House Sleep Out to Support Homeless Youth. The event invites area executives to raise money and awareness for the Covenant House’s mission to provide shelter and services to young people rescued from the street.
He participated in the event for the first time last year to support an old friend, Jennifer Williams, the development manager for Covenant House in South Jersey.
“Do I really want to do this?” he said he asked himself last year.
McMahon said he walked away from the event cold and tired but inspired.
He said he met the kids at the Covenant House and the staff and volunteers who help them, and he realized “how truly blessed we are to have never experienced this (homelessness).”
He and Williams shared stories of the Covenant House’s work — from helping a homeless girl move from washing her clothes in a boardwalk bathroom to making good on her acceptance to Kean University … to helping a girl identified as a “snitch” find shelter off the island with the help of volunteer clergymen called in the middle of the night to help her escape the gang that pursued her.
Employees at the McMahon Agency donated $3,900 to the charity on behalf of Bill McMahon, and on Thursday morning the McMahon Agency contributed a matching $3,900.
The figure included $170 from McMahon’s daughter Maggie, who asked friends to make a donation instead of bringing a gift for her 11th birthday party on Nov. 12. Another of McMahon’s daughters, Grace, will do the same for her ninth birthday next month.
Donations are still be accepted and can be made online in McMahon’s name: http://covhou.convio.net/site/
The Covenant House operates shelters nationwide. It opened in Atlantic City in 1989 with street outreach. A 27-bed shelter at Atlantic and Virginia avenues in Atlantic City opened in 1997.
In addition to providing shelter, the Covenant House offers vocational, legal and other services designed to prevent adult homelessness.
The Sleep Out on Thursday night starts with an outdoor candlelight vigil and is followed by presentations and testimonials. The executives will sleep out on the grounds of the Covenant House with just boxes and sleeping bags to keep them warm. The program ends between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Friday.
