Out singer Matt Zarley just finished recording a holiday song called I’m Your Angel being released this week on iTunes and Amazon as a benefit for Backpacks For The Street.
Zarley and his singing partner Jeb Havens have masterfully crafted an amazing sound for this original song.
The idea to create a backpack program for the homeless came about in late February, 2018, during a brain storming session. Jeffrey Newman and Jayson Conner were beginning the preliminary work on Together Helping Others Inc, their full service nonprofit for the homeless. Realizing that it would take a good year or longer to really create the kind of nonprofit they felt is needed, they were not content to sit idly by and not be actively doing something to help people living on the street. That’s when one of the J’s said, “why don’t we kick off with a backpacks program.” And the other immediately responded with an “absolutely!”
Founder Newman told Plus magazine for World AIDS Day about another factor that makes their mission all the more urgent and that was his encounter with the many HIV-positive LGBT kids on the street. Newman says, “Earlier this year, a colleague emailed me and asked if I could visit a homeless trans youth named Rayne, who was in the hospital with AIDS related illnesses. The morning I was to see Rayne, I had a family emergency and moved my visit to the following morning. That morning never came. She died hours later before she turned 30.”
He continued, “I think about Rayne, and our LGBT youth, especially those who are homeless and on the streets — and I’ve met many with our Backpacks For The Streets nonprofit for the homeless — who are getting sick and dying, because they only hear that AIDS is over. It’s not.”
Zarley’s song has got all the fun loving stuff you want during the holidays: Christmas songs. Gay apparel. A dope nonprofit. All proceeds from sales will be earmarked to help homeless LGBT youth through their 501c3.
You can buy I’m Your Angel here.
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Photos courtesy of Jeffrey Newman.