New Jersey Road Warrior Gets Minivan Donation To Help Homeless

NEWARK, NJ — “When you see a need, it may overwhelm you and you don’t know where to begin.” But according to New Jersey’s Jenny DePaul, it’s often the simplest of services that make the largest differences.

Five days a week, DePaul, a Rockaway resident and the founder of Project KIND 123, travels dozens of miles to deliver food, clothes and other essential living items to homeless residents in New Jersey’s largest city: Newark.

DePaul recently quit her job to focus on her efforts, which now bring crucial aid to more than 100 homeless people in the city. Along with food and clothes, DePaul and the mobile street outreach team at Project KIND 123 also help get their clients mentoring, emergency/temporary housing, information, referrals to assisted programs, encouragement and support. (Learn more about the organization here)

Many of the people who DePaul helps live on the streets surrounding Newark Penn Station. Part of the challenge to what she does is to transport stacks of donations to the people who need them.

• See related article: Essex County Had Most Homeless In New Jersey For 2017, Study Says

Getting hundreds of pounds of food and clothes from point A to point B isn’t easy. But luckily, DePaul has people power.

When her high school classmate Kevin Curran got wind of DePaul’s efforts, he knew that he had to help. Soon, Curran, the assistant general manager for Toyota’s New York region, put his own connections to work and got his company to donate DePaul a brand-new Sienna minivan, along with a $25,000 check for gas and maintenance.

DePaul received her new vehicle during a ceremony on Friday at Peter Francisco Park in Newark. With dozens of DePaul’s homeless friends flanking her and cheering her on, Curran presented her with the Sienna, a moment that was given extra panache due to the presence of two New York Giants players: linebacker Kareem Martin and tight end Rhett Ellison.

With the aid of her new vehicle, DePaul’s time spent on the road will be cut in half. Instead of two, separate, hour-long round trips from Rockaway to Newark in her smaller car, she’ll only need to make a single round-trip voyage.

“Since high school, I knew Jenny had a heart of gold,” Curran said. “But when Toyota heard about her selflessness and heroic efforts to provide food and clothing for the homeless through Project Kind, we were amazed and felt inspired to help.”

DePaul’s efforts also attracted the attention of State Farm Insurance, which recently helped to build a storage building in her backyard to help manage the massive overflow of donations. (Watch video below)

• See related article: Homeless Man Will Pay It Forward After Woman Raises $380K For Him

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Photos: Toyota