{"id":236753,"date":"2026-05-19T14:47:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/236753\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T14:47:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:47:39","slug":"queens-teen-hands-out-supplies-to-people-in-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/236753\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens Teen Hands Out Supplies to People in Need"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLLEGE POINT \u2014 Maribel Perez admires St. Teresa of Calcutta<\/a>. In particular, she is inspired by the work the woman known as Mother Teresa did with the poor and destitute.<\/p>\n

That is why the 16-year-old junior at The Mary Louis Academy<\/a> spends one Saturday a month standing on 14th Avenue in College Point handing out small bags filled with bars of soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other toiletries to those in need.<\/p>\n

Maribel, a scout with Troop 153 at St. Anastasia Church in Douglaston, is working toward her goal of becoming an Eagle Scout<\/a> \u2014 the highest honor in scouting \u2014 and is taking part in a homeless outreach organized by Sister Ruth Lautt of St. Fidelis Church in College Point as part of her required community service project.<\/p>\n

On the first Saturday of each month, Sister Ruth and a group of volunteers from St. Fidelis\u2019 Street Outreach Ministry<\/a> set up tables on 14th Avenue near College Point Boulevard and distribute food, clothing, and other items to anyone who approaches the tables.<\/p>\n

On May 2, Maribel and a group of her fellow scouts stood behind a table, handing out bags of toiletries. She explained why the project, called \u201cHope in a bag,\u201d is important to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Catholic, we should always help the homeless and the less fortunate to honor God and follow in Jesus\u2019 footsteps, as many saints have helped the homeless, like Mother Teresa,\u201d Maribel said. \u201cShe has been a great role model.\u201d<\/p>\n

She learned about Sister Ruth and the outreach ministry through her grandmother, decided she wanted to take part, and began showing up every first Saturday to help.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Faith Inspires Local Woman to Fight Hunger, Offer Lifeline to Homeless<\/a><\/p>\n

Maribel then took it a step further. She asked for speaking time at local churches \u2014 including her own church, Blessed Sacrament in Bayside \u2014 and sought donations from parishioners. Once she gathered the donations, she bought toiletries, and with help from fellow scouts, filled bags and brought them to the outreach distribution point on May 2.<\/p>\n

Sister Ruth, who called Maribel \u201can exceptional young woman,\u201d said the teen had purchased three months\u2019 worth of hygienic products.<\/p>\n

She also said it was remarkable that Maribel had the gumption to get up in front of large groups of people in churches to talk about the \u201cHope in a Bag\u201d project. \u201cPublic speaking is the biggest fear people have. She got up in front of churches, her own parish, neighboring parishes, talked about the ministry, what it meant to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sister Ruth and her volunteers have been handing out food and clothing to people at the same College Point location once a month since November.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Recipients line up to choose food to take. While the number of homeless in College Point has decreased, there are still many people who need help, says Sister Ruth Lautt, who directs the outreach program at St. Fidelis Church.<\/p>\n

According to the Coalition for the Homeless, as of March 2026, there were approximately 350,000 homeless people in New York City. A report issued by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli stated that the homeless population has increased by 78% since 2019.<\/p>\n

However, not all the St. Fidelis recipients are homeless.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to know a lot of people. Some are working. A lot aren\u2019t,\u201d she explained. \u201cThey\u2019re on public assistance, or they\u2019re working at very low pay. They\u2019re just scraping by.\u201d
The \u201cno questions asked\u201d policy makes the St. Fidelis ministry unique, said its pastor, Father John Francis. Many programs require recipients to prove they need help before receiving food and clothing.<\/p>\n

But here, \u201cit is for all people and people can come and get whatever they need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For Maribel, taking part has taught her a lesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very lucky to help them,\u201d she said, adding that she hopes her project inspires others to take action. \u201cAnd I see that I\u2019m very fortunate for everything I have \u2014 a roof over my head, food on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLLEGE POINT \u2014 Maribel Perez admires St. Teresa of Calcutta. In particular, she is inspired by the work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-236753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}