A place to sleep and a fresh cooked meal are some things many people often take for granted.  

But every day at Community Missions in Niagara Falls, both are provided to anyone in need.

Giving Tuesday was no exception.

"We have about 60 volunteers that are going to be coming through and doing things like decorating for Christmas, working in our food pantry to sort through the different food donations that we have in, preparing our soup kitchen meal for lunch and for breakfast," said Christian Hoffman, director of public relations at Community Missions.

Students from Niagara University started off the day by cooking up bacon, fresh toast and brewing some coffee for anyone who stayed the night or wanted to come in to warm up. 

Sunny Pechulis, an NU student, often volunteers at Community Missions and said it's important for everyone to volunteer their time to others. 

"Especially in Niagara Falls, there's a lot of people that go without, so this place really helps so that people don't have to go without and especially during the holiday season it makes peoples' lives more comfortable," Pechulis said.

Giving Tuesday falls after Black Friday and Cyber Monday each year, to serve as a reminder for what this season is all about.

But Pechulis said it's also important to remember to give back not just at this time of year.

"People always give a lot more on the holidays but people are in need all year round,” Pechulis said. “It's always important to give back in times of need where people aren't flooding in with volunteers because it's the holiday but all year round we always need support.”

In addition to giving time, there's many other ways to help Community Missions serve the community, with their food pantry and clothing closet always looking for donations. 

Monetary donations can be made online at the organization’s website to help fund other resources like mental health services.

"We're the largest private provider of basic human needs in Niagara County so things like food, clothing, shelter, people that have those needs certainly can come to us,” Hoffman said. “Things that people don't necessarily know as much about Community Missions — we have mental health services, we have about 250 individuals that are living with us in our residential services with mental health concerns.”

People can also support Community Missions by dining out, with participating restaurants donating a percent of proceeds to the organization.