Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel’s office at 3655 Johnson Avenue will collect toys for the homeless children as part of a drive by the Coalition for the Homeless to get toys to children in the City’s homeless shelters for the holidays.

Rep. Engel said, “Each year as the holidays approach, the Coalition for the Homeless organizes a toy drive and collects new, unwrapped toys. This year the coalition hopes to collect over 1,000 gifts, to be distributed to girls and boys in New York City shelters. I ask everyone to be as generous as they can in giving to these children. Homelessness can be traumatic to a child so the help we give will mean a lot.”

The toy drive runs from November 22 – December 10, and will culminate in a festive Holiday Carnival for homeless kids on Saturday, December 18th.

The Coalition says that there is a record number of homeless families in the City, with 16,000 children now sleeping in emergency shelters. These children face a greater burden than most students with the worry of instability causing anxiety, depression, or social withdrawal.

The Coalition for the Homeless is the nation’s oldest advocacy and direct services organization helping homeless families, men, women and children. Their mobile soup kitchen serves 1,000 hot meals at 31 locations every night.

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