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Generous donors arrange dignified funeral for 9 homeless New Yorkers who froze to death

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Cite

Gugliara, S. (2026, October 31). Generous donors arrange dignified funeral for 9 homeless New Yorkers who froze to death. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/31/us-news/9-unclaimed-homeless-new-yorkers-who-froze-to-death-last-winter-to-get-funeral/

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New York Post · collected 2026-10-31 · by Sonya Gugliara

Quick Summary

A group of generous donors has arranged a dignified funeral for nine homeless individuals who died from hypothermia during the harsh winter months in New York City. The service will take place on November 2, 2026, at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and includes the reading of each person’s name and brief details about their lives. Donors include Rhonda Roland Shearer's nonprofit Art Science Research Laboratory, along with Housing Works and International Funeral & Cremation Services, which donated funeral arrangements.
Written by AI on 2026-11-01, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

The unclaimed bodies of nine homeless people who froze to death on New York City streets during last winter will receive a proper funeral and permanent resting place thanks to a group of generous donors. These individuals were among 18 homeless people found dead outdoors when temperatures dropped as low as 3 degrees Fahrenheit. While relatives claimed half of the victims, the other bodies, including those of James Paul Smith and Manjeet Singh, were initially set for burial on Hart Island, New York City's Potter’s Field off the Bronx coast. Rhonda Roland Shearer, founder of Art Science Research Laboratory and Cut Red Tape 4 Heroes, intervened to arrange a dignified funeral service at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on Monday, Nov. 2, during an All Souls Day Mass. Their ashes will be interred throughout the church’s Resurrection Chapel.

Written for “Funeral For Homeless Victims” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 120447 · logged 2026-11-01

Story

📰 Funeral For Homeless Victims
Other · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
15
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 15 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Other
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-01 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 15824 article(s) · 35 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 35 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Sonya Gugliara
37 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 The unclaimed bodies of nine homeless people who froze to death on the city’s streets last winter will finally get a proper funeral and a permanent resting place, thanks to a group of generous New Yorkers.
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🔮 An adorable bulldog who was brought to a shelter weighing the same amount as a baby hippo has dropped about 18lbs and found a loving “forever home.” Peggy-Sue was a whopping 72lbs — roughly 30lbs overweight — when she arrived at RSPCA West Hatch Animal Centre in Somerset, England in July 2025. The ailing pet was so large she couldn’t walk more than a few steps without collapsing, the shelter said.
Also by Sonya Gugliara
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 37 articles by Sonya Gugliara →

Topics

Bronx Manhattan New Yorkers Queens South Carolina

Subjects

Manhattan GPE · 3× Queens GPE · 3× Bronx GPE · 2× Shearer PERSON · 2× South Carolina GPE · 2× Art Science Research Laboratory ORG · 1× Cut Red Tape 4 Heroes ORG · 1× James Paul Smith PERSON · 1× New Yorkers NORP · 1× Rhonda Roland Shearer PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The unclaimed bodies of nine homeless people who froze to death on the city’s streets last winter will finally get a proper funeral and a permanent resting place, thanks to a group of generous New Yorkers.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-01
🔮 The unclaimed bodies of nine homeless people who froze to death on the city’s streets last winter will finally get a proper funeral and a permanent resting place, thanks to a group of generous New Yorkers.

Claims (15 extracted, 0 hedged)

The unclaimed bodies of nine homeless people who froze to death on the city’s streets last winter will finally get a proper funeral and a permanent resting place, thanks to a group of generous New Yorkers. asserted
who → freeze → Yorkers
The nine were among 18 homeless people found dead outside during last winter’s brutal cold stretch when temperatures plunged as low as 3 degrees. asserted
temperatures → find → degrees
While relatives claimed the remains of half of the victims, the other bodies were headed for burial on Hart Island, the city’s Potter’s Field off the Bronx coast. asserted
bodies → claim → coast
But Rhonda Roland Shearer, the founder of the nonprofit Art Science Research Laboratory and Cut Red Tape 4 Heroes, intervened. asserted
Shearer → intervene → Laboratory
Now the nine will receive a funeral service at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue on Monday, Nov. 2, at 5:30 p.m. during an All Souls Day Mass. asserted
nine → receive → Mass.
Their ashes will be laid to rest throughout the church’s Resurrection Chapel. asserted
ashes → lay → Chapel
They are: James Paul Smith, 51: Born in South Carolina. asserted
They → bear → Carolina
Found dead Died Dec. 5, 2025, along the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens. asserted
Found → find → Queens
Hypothermia contributed to his death. asserted
Hypothermia → contribute → death
Jose M. “Joseph” Pena, 74: Had lived near the intersection of Woodhaven Boulevard and the Long Island Expressway in Queens since 2020. asserted
Pena → live → 2020
Igor Zapevalov, 64: Originally from Russia, he had lived in Manhattan for 10 years. asserted
he → live → years
“We’re honoring and purely recognizing the humanity in each person,” Shearer told The Post. asserted
Shearer → honor → Post
Along with Shearer and the church, non-profit Housing Works helped arrange the event. asserted
Works → help → event
And Patrick J. Marmo, owner of International Funeral & Cremation Services of New York, graciously donated the funeral arrangements. asserted
Marmo → donate → arrangements
“As a lifelong New Yorker and a funeral director for over 30 years, I have always believed that every life deserves to be honored with dignity and respect,” Marmo said. asserted
Marmo → believe → dignity
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