Forest Hills Nonprofit Ups Efforts To Help The Homeless

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — When Jeffrey Newman started dating Jayson Conner, he noticed Conner seemed to like couch surfing. It wasn't just a preference; Conner was homeless.

"It's very demeaning. It crushes your soul," said Conner, who was homeless for two years, until he moved in with Newman. "I never had the 'look' of a homeless person. Nobody knew."

Now, 15 years later, the Forest Hills duo is celebrating the first anniversary of their Backpacks For The Street initiative, which gives backpacks full of everyday essentials to homeless people throughout New York City. They have since given out more than 2,000 backpacks with items like thermal blankets, socks, pads, toothbrushes and snacks.

Newman and Conner launched a contest Monday for homeless artists to design a logo for the backpack program. The winner will receive a $250 gift card to DaVinci Artist Supply and six sessions with a life coach, and the winning logo will appear on the backpacks and volunteer t-shirts. A professional photographer will shoot the winner's portfolio.

On Tuesday, Forest Hills bar Austin Public will host a Backpacks For The Street fundraiser. "They're two angels on earth," Manager Lucy Roksa said of Newman and Conner.

Backpacks For The Street is just one facet of Newman and Conner's nonprofit, Together Helping Others, which they want to turn into a one-stop resource for New York City's homeless. There are more than 63,000 homeless New Yorkers, according to Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group.

The couple plans to offer laundry services and shower facilities. They have a vision for an app listing resources such as food stamps, shelters and methadone clinics, so any New Yorker has the tools to help the homeless people they see on the street.

"New Yorkers have learned to look away," said Newman, who quit his job as a communications consultant to work on the nonprofit full-time. "Once you see a homeless person as a human being, you can't unsee that."

Newman and Conner use social media to tell the stories of the homeless people they help, in an attempt to stir even the most jaded of New Yorkers. Homelessness can happen to anyone, especially in a city as expensive as New York, they emphasize.

"Our job is not to judge but to help them," Newman said.

Backpacks For The Street's Tuesday fundraiser is at Austin Public, located at 70-28 Austin St. in Forest Hills, from 6 to 10:30 p.m.