PORTLAND, Maine — Seventy-four-year-old Lee Cooper's favorite thing to do is shop — at least, while he's volunteering at Portland-based Maine Needs . After he arrives for his shift, he picks up an order slip from the front desk and grabs a bag off a nearby shelf.

"We'll go fill this up," Cooper says as he unfolds the bag. "I usually start with shoes because they go on the bottom and they're heavy."

Cooper is picking out shoes and other items for a 62-year-old man who has found housing after two years of homelessness. Maine Needs collects donations of clothes, bedding, toiletries, even cleaning supplies and fills specific requests that social workers and other community providers make for clients.

"Think of it like a food bank with no food," he says. "I mean, we do everything else but

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