The rescue mission wanted to see if people would recognise their own family members if they pretended to be homeless.
This is Veronika. She explains her sister took care of her when she was a little kid because her parents were working.
This is Shaunya. And this is her family.
This is Tom. He met his wife in a bar 34 years ago.
This is Evan. He used to dress up in his grandmother’s theatre costumes with his cousin and do sketches for the family.
And this is Alison, who believes there is no one who can understand you quite like your family.
All five were shown how they reacted when passing their family on the street.
Evan looked like he was going to stop when he passed a "homeless woman", but continued to walk on.
He was very surprised to learn the woman was in fact his cousin.
Veronika paid absolutely no attention to her sister.
Tom glanced momentarily at his wife but never broke his stride.
Which he was shocked to discover.
Shaunya didn't even look at her family members sitting at the side of the street.
The experiment had a profound impact on the participants.
Afterwards there were hugs all round.
The New York City Rescue Mission said the video was produced to "make people think twice before walking by the homeless".
Learn more about the mission here.
