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Individuals distribute The Better Collective newspaper in Northern Utah.

Courtesy photo

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Individuals distribute The Better Collective newspaper in Northern Utah.

Courtesy photo

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For a short stint I lived in the East Village of New York while on a fellowship with the International Radio and Television Society. It was a good set up — stipend, apartment paid and being 23 in the Big Apple.

Every morning, before rushing to the L train heading to Chelsea Market, I’d stop at a deli with the best egg and bacon sandwich, the only thing I miss about New York. Standing just outside the door was a tall, ragged man asking for change. Falling in line with the masses of Manhattan, head down, keep moving.

For months I rushed past, pretending he didn’t exist. But growing up in dirt-road Clinton, where homelessness wasn’t something you saw, I couldn’t quiet the discomfort. I knew better than treating a person like they weren’t there.

I wish I could write my heart changed and we went to lunch, becoming friends, swapping life stories, teeing up the next Richard Paul Evans novel. The reality is, I was like millions of others — it was easier to walk away.

Trevor Bennett didn’t walk away.

Instead, he’s spending his free hours creating a new publication found around Northern Utah called The Better Collective — a non-profit newspaper highlighting not only the stories of Utah’s unhoused but also featuring art, poetry and writings from the community.

“I first saw a street paper in Nashville. They’re in over 20 cities in the U.S.,” Bennett explained. “It’s basically non-profits the put together a newspaper that tells the stories of the homeless in their area, giving them a voice. I thought that it was really cool.”

Now preparing to release its second quarterly issue, thanks to volunteers who recently gathered at Hooper Park to roll and bundle papers, The Better Collective has become more than a passion project. It’s a family effort.

Trevor and his wife, Abbie, are raising their two young children in western Weber County. With parents who ran small businesses couple with is love of writing, Bennett found himself pulled toward creating something of his own, something that could also serve others.

Like similar street papers across the country, Bennett hopes the publication will eventually provide income opportunities for those experiencing homelessness here at home

“Right now, everything is volunteer based. In July, the community and local businesses will actually donate papers, basically to us for $2 a paper. Essentially, they donate money for us to print. And then however many papers we get donated we’ll be able to have the homeless do the packaging and prepare for delivery and they’ll be paid,” said Bennett.

His effort has already found support from other organizations serving Utah’s homeless, including local non-profit Do Good Today.

“I usually go and help them with their outreach they do every other Sunday, handing out clothing. That’s usually where I do the interviews with people,” said Bennett. “Most interviews end with them in tears and then we’re hugging. I wish I could do more than write about [them] and actually help. I wish we could do more but I think it’s one of those things you do what you can and hopefully spread awareness and other people can also do what they can.”

Bennett’s learned even the simplest thing, a head nod or eye contact, can make a different to our unhoused.

“I ask in every interview, what’s the hardest part about being homeless. Almost every single time the answer is how they’re treated in society. They don’t feel human anymore. They’re treated less than. I always thought it’d be, since we’re in Utah, to sleep on the sidewalk in 20-degree weather, but it’s not. It’s how people treat them or how they’re looked at,” he explained.

Bennett hopes by sharing their stories, others will be reminded those living on the streets are someone’s mother, father, brother, sister or friend.

“The ultimate goal is to have the community be more understanding, more empathetic for people that are homeless and experiencing that. If we can do that, then everyone starts to contribute in the own different way,” he said

He hopes The Better Collective, and its model to inform and employ, can grow beyond Northern Utah.

“Being able to do this in my own community is awesome. I would love to be able to branch out and get down to Salt Lake and eventually go statewide,” Bennett said.

And if you’re wondering where to start, Bennett has a simple answer:

“Donate papers,” he said. “Help us continue to help more people.”

This 31-year-old humanitarian got me thinking about the man outside the deli — I don’t know his name because I didn’t ask. I don’t know his story because I never slowed down to listen. Maybe it’s time I looked up.

You can subscribe to The Better Collective online at BetterCollectiveUtah.com, including a digital edition delivered directly to your inbox.