SEATTLE -- It's mitten weather, and waiting in the cold for food is hard. Many more people need help, and some are reluctant to show their faces.

But Rachelle Reith wants you to know just how hard it is out there for her and her boyfriend.

"Since October he's run out of money, and he can't find work because nobody's hiring. And we're really trying," she said.

A homeless man named Mel said he knows what Reith is talking about.

"I'm on social security," he said. But Mel said he's not even close to making ends meet.

"Heck, no! I go to five food banks," he said.

Reith and Mel are just two of 2,000 people Northwest Harvest feeds each day at the food bank. Half of those people are children and the elderly. And in the last two months, the need has soared.

"If you stand at our door at our food bank, you are going to see yourself walk through that door in a short amount of time. They are your neighbors and they are my neighbors," said Shelley Rotondo, executive director of Northwest Harvest.

They are people Brenden Foster wants to help. Brenden is just 11 years old, but has leukemia and is living on borrowed time. And during his last days, the Bothell boy made a dying wish to help the homeless.

"I was coming back from one of my clinic appoints and I saw this big thing of homeless people, and then I thought I should just get them something," he said of the Nickelsville homeless encampment.

Because Brenden was already too sick to leave his bed, volunteers passed out 200 homemade sandwiches on his behalf.

"They're probably starving, so give them a chance," Brenden said.

Brenden's heartfelt wish touched hearts worldwide of people from all walks of life. People from all over, from Saudi Arabia to South Carolina, have sent him heartfelt messages. A TV station in Los Angeles held a food drive in Brenden's honor.

And many who live on the streets of Seattle without a TV or access to the Internet want to see what Brenden is doing. They, who can't even afford to feed themselves, wish they could help Brenden somehow.

"He's changed so many lives for the better. We wish we could give him some strength to pull through it physically. It sounds like he's already a saint more or less, you know what I mean," said, a Jack Whelpley homeless man.

"That little boy is remarkable and what he has done. He's caused an avalanche of love and support which has been fabulous to watch," said Rotondo.

And now is your chance to help the homeless in Brenden's honor.

KOMO News will be holding a food drive for Northwest Harvest and Food Lifeline. You can drop off food on Thursday, November 20th at Fred Meyer stores in Issaquah (6100 E Lake Sammamish Parkway SE), Federal Way (33702 21st Avenue SW) or Brenden's hometown of Bothell (21045 Bothell-Everett Hwy).

If you can't make it in person, you can donate online by going to the Problem Solvers donation page and select "Brenden Foster Food Drive" from the donation options list.

Donations to the family can be made to the "Brenden Foster Cancer Fund" at any Washington Mutual bank branch.