YSK: when donating to homeless shelters this time of year they usually get an abundance of heavy winter clothing, but lack donations in things like socks and underwear. Women's shelters are often short on things like tampons and pads as well.

Most homeless shelter seem to have a consistent need for socks especially. Women's shelters rarely have enough tampons, pads, or bras to give enough to everyone. While people are thinking about donating this time of year it's important to see what shelters really need more of before donating, call ahead to get a better idea of what you local shelters are short on... But any kind of donations are good donations.