CHARLTON, Mass. - Charlton’s Board of Selectmen is asking for donations to help homeless individuals in the area. Selectman David Singer said they’re looking simple items which can make a big difference.

“We are going to collect all of these items through January 15," Singer said. "If anyone wants to contribute, they can either get a full backpack like this filled with non-perishable food items or warm socks or mittens or hand warmers, or they can just do a little baggie like this. Or if they don't want to do that, they can bring in one pair of socks. If 100 people bought one pair of socks for two or three dollars at Walmart, we'd have 100 pairs of socks.”

Singer said Charlton usually gets a great response when there’s a call for donations. He’s hoping it’s the same this winter for the "Care Kits." which will be brought to Worcester’s new emergency shelter at the former Registry of Motor Vehicles site downtown.

“We've done all kinds of charitable drives over the years - whether it's toy drives for the Children's Pediatric Trauma Unit at UMass, whether it's delivering Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners to seniors who are alone with nowhere to go, or like this year trying to collect for the homeless," Singer said.

"And people need to understand that this shelter in Worcester doesn't just serve the city of Worcester, but it serves everywhere. People who may even be in Charlton and Dudley, this area, they have no shelter or place they could actually sleep when it's freezing cold out at night can make the trek into Worcester to spend the night at the shelter.”

Donated items can be brought to Charlton Town Hall during their regular hours, or to the police department any time through the second week of January.

As the number of individuals experiencing homelessness remains high, Singer said the idea is to help as many people as possible.

“My wife has always made bags like this that we would carry in the car, so when you're driving through the city of Worcester or Dudley [or] Charlton, where you see a homeless person, you can just pull over and give them a care bag," Singer said. "Then we said, ‘well, let's just ask the community, maybe they'd like to help.'

"If we get a bunch of these, then there's literally a ton of lives we can impact, especially during the cold months when it's really rough for people who have nowhere to go.”