They were two lonely people who crossed paths in a Brooklyn subway station.
He was a struggling DJ and she was a homeless panhandler.
But when Brendan Jay Sullivan — a k a DJ VH1 — got his lucky break playing for Lady Gaga on her “Fame” tour four years later, he paid it forward by helping his old subway pal settle into a new home.
That pal, Jackie Vance, 52, moved into a subsidized studio apartment in Brooklyn this month.
But to turn her new digs in a dream house, Sullivan set up a Target store registry for his friend. A YouTube video intended to drum up donations shows the pair picking out bed linens and bowls accompanied by “The Dog Days are Over” by Florence and the Machine.
“It’s easy to think that you’re all alone in the city,” Sullivan said. “But if you let people in your life, it’s such a gift. I love her so much, and I want to help her.”
Since Monday, 155 people from all over the world have donated $5,000 in money and goods to help Jackie feather her nest. Some are strangers and others are people who knew her when she was living on the street.
Sullivan and Jackie first met at the Atlantic Avenue subway terminal.
Sullivan was only 22, unemployed and about to apply for a waiter position at Jean-Georges’ steakhouse V. He could not have dreamed then that one day he would star in Lady Gaga’s hit video “Love Game.”
He had seen Jackie in the subway before, but never spoke to her. Her face was dirty and her hoodie was soiled.
“Can you spare some change so I can get some Chinese food?” she asked him.
“I really have no money,” he said honestly.
“You better not,” she quipped with a smile, “because I ask you every day.”
He was moved by her humor. So he made her a deal: If he got the job, he’d take her out for Chinese food.
A week later he returned, paycheck in hand, and took her to ‘U’ Kiss Chinese restaurant. She got the spare ribs; he got the sesame chicken.
“It was the best meal of my life,” he said.
A friendship was born. They chatted every day on his way to work and celebrated each other’s birthdays. She gave him Valentine’s Day cards and he bought her a new dress.
“I was alone. I didn’t have many friends then,” said Sullivan. “All of a sudden my best friend was sitting there at the subway.”
“He’s my special friend. We have a special bond,” Jackie added.
Later when Sullivan lost his job at V, Vance arrived with an armful of groceries, saying, “You’re going to be just fine. Everyone needs a little help sometimes.”
Sullivan has now taken her maxim to the next level.
Jackie’s souped-up studio apartment, located in Hegeman, an affordable housing development for the formerly homeless in Brownsville, has a green and purple color scheme conceived by interior decorator and model Brett Helsham.
On Friday, Jackie, who is entering a job-training program and working toward her GED, came home to find two packages sent by strangers — a green oven mitt and a set of pastel plates and mugs from Target — waiting for her.
“I love my house,” she told the Post. “I’m at home.”