Covenant House History

Covenant House was started by a professor at Manhattan College, Reverend Bruce Ritter. After he resigned from his post, Ritter along with James Fitzgibbon wanted to serve the poor. They were helped by their students, friends and neighbors. They moved to a rundown apartment in the East Village of New York City.

From there onwards, both of them started serving the poor. In 1970, Father James Fitzgibbon started to spend more time on drug counseling and other ministries. However, Reverend Bruce Ritter along with the help of Paul Frazier, Patricia Kennedy and Adrian Gately started Covenant Community. Covenant House got officially inaugurated at LaGuardia Place in the year 1972.

As a non-profit organization, Covenant House started receiving funds and provided shelter for homeless kids. The first two shelters were on Staten Island and Manhattan. In the year 1976, Father Ritter dreamed of building a multi-service center. To further the vision, Covenant House started acquiring more buildings for sheltering homeless children.

In 1970's, the vision of Covenant House to stretch their shelters and other programs to all parts of New York City took shape. By 1980, they were ready to start shelters in places other than New York City.

This goal has been achieved and now the organization has shelters across the United States, Canada and Central America thanks to Kevin Ryan, the President of Covenant House. Sister Mary Rose and Sister Tricia Cruise were also instrumental in this expansion. From 1990 to 2003, the organization was headed by Sister Mary Rose and later by Sister Tricia Cruise till 2008.

After her resignation, Kevin Ryan became the President of this organization. He was the first person to be appointed as the State Advocate for New Jersey. Covenant House expands with dedicated people like him to help serve homeless children and to save children from abuse and child trafficking.

NOTE: Information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Some content is compiled from 3rd party sources. If you are aware of incorrect or outdated information, feel free to contact us.