I want to thank everyone who participated in Catering for the Homeless, Inc.'s Fall and Winter Toiletry Drive in 2018. I am so grateful and appreciative of the support of our community. Thanks to the Office of Community Board 5, elected officials, St. Sebastian's, and donations from generous individuals in the community, we raised 3,577 items for the homeless that went to shelters throughout Brooklyn and Queens.

The donations went to the Blissville Adult Family Shelter, the NorthStar Shelter, the Floating Hospital Shelter working with all demographics, especially women and children, the men being sheltered at the Holiday Inn in Maspeth, and the CAMBA Women's Shelter in Brooklyn.

The 501(c)3 nonprofit, Catering for the Homeless, will continue to accept toiletry donations year-round. The homeless need food, clothing, and toiletry donations every day of the year. Catering for the Homeless is working to utilize food waste for the people who really need it. By the end of 2018, Catering for the Homeless provided approximately 22,000 meals for the homeless and poor throughout New York City, with the good, untouched food that would normally have gone to waste. Together, we can end hunger, by getting the quality food going to waste, to the people who need it.

Regardless of why someone is in poverty, or how they became homeless, every human being needs food, shelter, and clothing. Every one of us can fall on hard times, but reaching out to help our neighbors, is what makes our community great.

The more churches, organizations, schools, catering companies, grocery stores, and restaurants that get on-board with Catering for the Homeless, the stronger this program and network becomes, the less food goes to waste, and the more that hungry men, women, and children will be fed. For more information, to volunteer, donate, or join this important effort to get the 126 billion pounds of food going to waste each year to the millions of Americans in poverty who really need it, please email cateringforthehomeless@gmail.com, and visit www.cateringforthehomeless.com.