By NICK BUGLIONE

This time last year, the 63-year-old Brooklyn resident Ephraim Small lost his job at John F. Kennedy Airport and then lost his home.

"I lost my job, as simple as that. I had like three or four days before I was completely out of my apartment." He was separated from his wife and had nowhere to turn, so he went to the Salvation Army and the Queens Homeless Outreach Project.

"It saved me from a lot of embarrassment," he said. "You never know what can happen. I never was homeless, I’d always worked."

The project’s help saved his life, Small said, and now he’s repaying the kindness he’s received by doling out some of his own as a worker within the program.

"I go out and feed [homeless] people and try to convince them to come into the shelter," he said. "I try to use myself as an example."

As the winter days turn blustery cold in Queens this week, the Homeless Outreach Project Director Michael Fenner modestly estimates that there are anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000 homeless people sleeping on the borough’s streets.

"The Salvation Army has been in the business of doing outreach for 100 years, but this is a more concentrated effort," explained Fenner.

Salvation Army posts, including the headquarters in Jamaica, offered free Thanksgiving dinners this year. Tribune Photos By Ira Cohen

Formed in May of 1995, the Homeless Outreach Project is responsible for the aid of over 10,000 homeless people, according to Fenner.

Though providing food, shelter, employment opportunities and in some cases drug rehabilitative services for those in need, Fenner said not all homeless are receptive to the help — making persistence a key value of the project.

"We have to be able to take a ‘get out of my face’ on occasions," he said. "We work with the clients to engage them and empower them to get off the street."

Scouring the borough’s roads, parks and alleyways, teams consisting of both volunteers and professionals from the Jamaica-based project set out every night in search of homeless people.

"We patrol every day, 24 hours a day," said Fenner, who has been project director since its beginning five years ago. "We meet with the community two to three times a month to get a close fix on what’s going on in the individual neighborhoods."

"The strange thing about Queens is people come here and they move around," said the Queens Village resident, noting that the homeless can be found as far north as Whitestone and as far south as JFK airport.

As difficult as they are to sometimes locate, many homeless people are just as difficult to understand said Fenner, as some do not fit the stereotypical image often assigned to them.

"There’s a lot of professional people who are out there homeless," he said, who have had a twist of bad luck and wind up destitute virtually overnight. "These are everyday people who need some help."

Of all the citywide Salvation Army homeless outreach projects, the Queens-based one is perhaps the most successful. "Queens outreach is a very persistent group of young people," said Fenner. "We’ve been very successful."

Though it provides services year-round, the Salvation Army consistently steps up its efforts as holidays approach.

On Thanksgiving, all of the borough locations will be offering free turkey dinners to the local homeless.

"We also have a street outreach team that will be out serving 400 dinners," said Fenner. "It’s a very depressing time of year, so rather than they come to us we come to them."

As the mercury continues to dip into the 30s, all teams will be going on winter alert, imploring those out on the streets to take shelter and avoid any physical harm.

"In some cases we engage the police to assist us," and tell homeless people that staying outside is not an option, Fenner said.

A police department spokeswoman said Queens police will also be intensifying their efforts during the winter months.

Under the Giuliani Administration, police have become an integral part in getting homeless off the streets — a fact that has drawn an equal amount of praise and criticism.

"The mayor feels it’s not a good thing to be sleeping on the streets," said Robert Mascali, chief of staff of the Department of Homeless Services, which works alongside public and private agencies like the Salvation Army. "A lot of these people need medical attention."

Anyone wishing to send donations, clothes or canned goods to the Queens Homeless Outreach Project should mail or drop them off at 90-23 161st St., Jamaica, N.Y. 11432.

Financial donations should be made by check or money order to the Salvation Army Queens Outreach. The following is a list of other local posts of the Salvation Army:

Astoria Community Center
45-18 Broadway
Long Island City, N.Y. 11103

Korean Community Center
142-50 32nd Avenue
Flushing, N.Y. 11354

Queens Temple Community Center
86-07 35th Avenue
Jackson Heights, N.Y. 11372

Ridgewood Community Center
69-23 Cypress Hills Street
Ridgewood, N.Y. 11386

Borden Avenue Veterans Residence
21-10 Borden Avenue
Long Island City, N.Y. 11101

Briarwood Family Residence
80-20 134th Street
Jamaica, N.Y. 11435

Jamaica Women’s Assessment Shelter
93-05 168th Street
Jamaica, N.Y. 11435

Lefrak City Group Home
96-04 57th Avenue
Lefrak City, 11368

Hope House
115-37 133rd Street
South Ozone Park, N.Y. 11420

Hunger Does Not Equal Homelessness

Not all of the hungry people in Queens are necessarily homeless. According to Rev. N.J. L’Heureux, executive director of the Queens Federation of Churches, the majority of the food pantry clients within the Queens Interfaith Hunger Network are housed.

Started in 1983, the Queens Interfaith Hunger Network—a project of the Queens Federation of Churches—has been providing food year round to the borough’s undernourished through food pantries and soup kitchens.

"Hunger, tragically, is something that effects people every day of the year," said L’Heureux. "We realize that hunger is only one of the symptoms of what is a larger, more complex problem."

With over 115 panties and soup kitchens set up throughout Queens, the network provides approximately seven million meals to 750,000 locals every year, L’Heureux estimates. Yet he went to note that for every two that receive meals, one is turned away due to a lack of resources.

Those wishing to give cash donations can send them to the Queens Federation of Churches at 86-17 105th St., Richmond Hill, N.Y. 11418.

To find out about a local food pantry or soup kitchen near you call the Food Hunger Hotline at 917-351-8777.

Very Special Delivery Representatives from 25 Queens churches, charities and senior groups picked up their holiday deliveries from the Flushing Mail Processing Facility on Nov. 20, thanks to local postal employees. Over 500 boxed turkeys, purchased with dollars donated by the postal workers, went out to all corners of the borough to insure a Thanksgiving meal for the hungry and homeless. Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen