East Germantown grandmom sleeps outside to raise awareness of homelessness

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - An 89-year-old grandmother is sleeping out on the street in East Germantown, but it's all for a good cause.

Ann Oskowis knows all too well what it's like to be without a home. She was homeless during the Great Depression. Now, she wants to make sure what happened to her doesn't happen to anyone else.

So when Ann's daughter, who works at the Covenant House, asked her to help support more than 700 homeless, runaway and trafficked young people find shelter, she said yes.

Ann recalls her own circumstances, which led to her family being homeless.

In the early 1930s, Ann's father lost his job, and her family lost their house as a result. They were soon out on the street.

Ann and her family would find an empty house to live in until authorities caught up with them, and then it would be onto the next house.

This was the first time Covenant House held an event like this to raise funds for the youth home.