Project Kind’s Jenny DePaul named Giants 2024 Inspire Change Changemaker

Football is often described as simple but not easy.

The same can be said about Jenny DePaul’s mission to serve.

For her work as the founder of Project Kind, which addresses immediate needs for individuals experiencing homelessness and empowers them by providing the love and support they need, DePaul has been named the New York Giants 2024 Inspire Change Changemaker.

“The honor really goes to love,” DePaul said. “This is all about just living out love and coming together. That’s all this is. It’s actually the simplest thing ever, the simplest thing.”

Now in the third year of the NFL program, the Changemakers are community leaders nominated by clubs for making an impact in their communities across Inspire Change’s four focus areas: education, economic advancement, police-community relations, and criminal justice reform.

“The NFL and Inspire Change take pride in recognizing the incredible efforts of these 32 Changemakers who go above and beyond to make a difference in the lives of those around them,” said Anna Isaacson, NFL Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility. “Their dedication, compassion, and remarkable achievements inspire us all and serve as a powerful reminder of the impact one dedicated person can make in their community.”

DePaul was recognized at the Giants’ Inspire Change game on Dec. 15 and Project Kind received a $10,000 donation from the NFL Foundation.

“Number one, we pride ourselves on relationship,” said Ethan Medley, Giants’ director of community relations and youth football. “We enjoy relationship, and so an opportunity to remain in relationship with somebody who’s doing amazing things in our backyard and be able to put a spotlight on it, is where our power lies. It’s not about the biggest organization. It’s about relationship and us being able to say firsthand that this is good. We can’t be in Newark every night at 11 p.m., but Jenny is.”

DePaul started Project Kind in 2014 as a family-run outreach program. With two young daughters of her own at the time, Lilli and Annabella, DePaul started to take in foster children and wanted to impact the community in other ways. So, they began going to Newark Penn Station and sharing what they had – “which wasn’t a lot,” DePaul said.

They brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a few hats, sat inside the train station, and invited people experiencing homelessness to join in a meal.

“I feel like we’re called to love one another, and I wanted my daughters to understand what that looked like if you lived it out,” DePaul said. “We really got to know their stories and wanted to help them in other ways. But I realized I was limited in what I could share. So, we started sharing these needs with the community and people started giving me items. That’s really how it started. Before I knew it, my porch was filled. My house was filled.”

Now, Project Kind has distributed 1 million meals and vital items while hundreds of individuals have successfully transitioned to permanent housing.

“Project Kind really serves the people that others turn away, even other non-profits,” DePaul said. “Because we don’t have government funding, we have a lot of flexibility as to who we help. So, if a non-profit can’t help somebody, they’ll often say go to Project Kind because we’re all community-supported. They’ll share their story and we’re able to help people where other non-profits can’t. A lot of times if someone is facing eviction or is ready to move forward out of homelessness, we’ll raise that [money] they need.”

The essence of DePaul’s mission can be traced back to late nights in Newark.

Not a place for children, DePaul would go out by herself to do outreach. She met people, often times under a bridge, to find out what they needed. DePaul then shared on social media about how others could help.

“I want people to feel led to give,” DePaul said. “It’s not like a sales pitch. I want it to resonate with them in some way. It’s very organic.”

Sure enough, people started to drop off items. And because of DePaul’s posts, clothes would be in specific sizes for that individual.

“I wanted people to feel connected to their gifts and really understand the need,” DePaul said. “It’s not like you’re just writing a check and sending it somewhere. I’ve had people call me or message me and say, ‘It was so great, I saw your video and I saw you hand the coat I dropped off to you to that person. That was my coat.’ I want people to see what I feel from that interaction. I want them to see that person for who they truly are. I don’t know how to explain it. I’m capturing the true essence of that person and letting people see that. When I do outreach, I have no expectations of the people I’m serving. I feel like the expectation is on me. I’m to love well. So, when I put something out there, I want someone to feel led to love well, and all that other stuff doesn’t matter.”

But why do outreach in the middle of the night? Surely the daytime hours would be safer.

“Just like all of us, when you go to sleep at night, you lay down, the hustle of the day is over, and reality sets in,” DePaul said. “It’s the same thing for them. I felt it’s a more vulnerable time for them where they might be more honest with me and more accepting of advice.”

All the while, DePaul travels freely through Newark without concern for her personal safety.

“I feel completely at peace there,” said DePaul, a native of Rockaway, N.J. “I really do. I’m not hesitant at all. For me, I think it’s just because that’s where God wants me. That’s the truth. Also, I’ve been going so long, I feel like they watch out for me too – the people I’m serving. They’ve got my back, and they help me. They’ll tell me, ‘Oh, there are people over that way. We’ll go with you.’ They’ll help me hand things out. But they protect me.”

The Giants can attest to that.

“This occurred the day that we met Jenny,” Medley said. “We’re with NFL players and we’re coming to present her with a van to support her in her mission and the people experiencing homelessness that were there that day were kind of like – this is true – they were like checking us out to make sure we had all good intentions with their Jenny. And our players, who at the time were Rhett Ellison and Kareem Martin, they’re noticing this. They’re like, ‘What is going on? We’re the Giants. You’re checking us to make sure that we’re good to her.’ They had to feel it out.”

The Giants were all in after that point. Ellison would go to Newark at all hours of the night and do bible study with DePaul, and his wife, Raina, baked cookies. In addition, Martin even one time bought and delivered mattresses to a family.

Then the idea for the “Worthy of Love Fest” was born in 2018.

The Giants and Project Kind welcome hundreds of people to the annual event at MetLife Stadium. They provide food, showers, haircuts, clothes, personalized lockers, stadium tours, and social service agents to help their every need.

“It was a crazy idea because it’s kind of out there,” DePaul said. “I just want to have a day where we all love each other. Ethan was like, ‘All right, let’s do it.’ It is a beautiful event. It is very special. It is not a fundraiser. No one makes any money. I think it’s very unique, and the people love it. They love it. They say it changed their whole way of thinking.”

“You don’t see that a lot in these kinds of organizations,” Ellison said at one of the past Worthy of Love Fests. “Sometimes it’s just ‘give them stuff’ and it’s not as personal. Jenny knows everybody in this room, and they all know Jenny. That’s something you don’t really see, so instantly I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to help her as much as I could. … The goal is just to love on them. Fill them up with love, just get them and connect them with the right people, encourage them. Just let them know that they’re worth it.”

As for the future of Project Kind, DePaul humbly admits she is not much of a planner, “which I guess is both good and bad because I feel like I will mess it up if I try to plan too much.”

Simply put, she wants to keep doing what she’s doing but more of it.

“Jenny wants everybody to feel like her, and she wants this to be global,” Medley said. “She wants this to exist in every city, but wherever Jenny is, is someplace that she’s not. She’s one of a kind. That’s the problem. The issue is you cannot quite replicate her. What I remind her often is if God has called you to serve Newark, serve Newark. And be exemplary and see what happens elsewhere. Jenny’s big goal is this would blossom and become something that other people would replicate in terms of the action and the heart behind her work, as simple as it is.”

“It’s so simple,” she said.