In the early years of the existence of With Actions and in Truth, Inc. I was reluctant to distribute anything at shelters and on the streets of New York City beyond the sandwich packages‒sandwich, a bottle of water / fruit drink, and a piece of fruit. Being confined to the home in the summer of 2020 due to the covid pandemic gave me an opportunity to research the needs of those facing housing insecurity. The A-number one item that came up was a need for socks. I did what I could to go on-line and fill out donation request forms from several companies, including Bombas. The latter’s response was to get on their waiting list. Every couple of years or so, I would get an e-mail from Bombas that With Actions and in Truth was moving up the list. This past summer, I received an e-mail that my time had come and I could soon expect a donation of 1,000 pairs of men’s socks‒500 large, 250 medium, and 250 ankle (or “shorty-shorts,” as affectionately referred to by one of the unhoused from years back).

​​

Due to the possibility of having to document the distribution(s) of socks, I knew giving them out on the streets was not an option, since I virtually never take photos of homeless people. Also, given the entire bounty consisted of men’s socks, it eliminated distributing at family or women’s shelters. Okay, so I needed to connect with four men’s shelters to disburse roughly 250 pairs of socks at each one.

​​

As always, my first call went to Ray Perez, the Recreation Specialist at J-CAP on Sutphin Blvd. near Foch in Southeast Queens. Everything had always worked out to perfection with him in previous years, including receipt of the all-important acknowledgement letters, and I expected nothing less this time around. He informed me they had 95 “clients,” and I dropped off three pairs for each one.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

 

I then tried to connect with my source at Acacia Network, a community-based organization with ties to Queens. My phone call was met with “you’ve reached a number that is no longer in service,” which I thought was a bit odd. I googled him and, sure enough, he left that job a few months ago to start his own business. I then dug up an old e-mail from his co-worker / assistant, hoping she was still there. Without going into detail, it took nearly three weeks to make a connection. Once I explained who I was (‘the guy who had the Hanes socks last year”) and the purpose of my call (“I have 715 pairs of Bombas socks to distribute across three men’s shelters”), it took all of five minutes for her to put me in touch with the three shelters and their program directors ̶ John Bryant at Skyway Men’s Shelter, Wynice Rogers at JFK Holiday Inn Shelter and Zari Guye at Days Inn JFK. I had previously collaborated with Mr. Bryant when he was at Garden Inn Men’s Shelter (2020) and Best Western Women’s Shelter (2021) and Ms. Rogers at JFK Holiday Inn in 2021 and 2024.

​

Fortunately, I was able to schedule distributions at all three locations for late morning / early afternoon on the same day. I was also fortunate that each location was no more than a five-minute drive from one another along a “strip” in Jamaica, Queens. All went well at each location. The program directors were appreciative of the donations, and I was able to get what I needed (i.e., pictures) should documentation be needed to send to Bombas.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Having done so privately, I would like to thank Bombas for the honor to be part of their “for every pair we sell, we donate” program. I plan to get on their waiting list again and… we’ll see what happens.

 

Marc Taylor

November 9, 2026