Anonymous is known for taking down the websites of organizations as diverse as the Church of Scientology and the Ku Klux Klan. But with single-digit and below-zero temperatures hitting the Midwest and the Northeast, the loose collective of activists is trying to get its members and regular people to hack a real-world problem: the plight of the homeless during the frigid winter months.

For the second year in a row, through its Operation Safe Winter campaign Anonymous hopes to inspire folks to provide resources—a sleeping bag, a hot meal, or clothing to keep the chill away—to people living on the street.

The OPSafeWinter Twitter feed has become a virtual clearinghouse of stories about the plight of the homeless, ways to help, and success stories of those who've taken action. The account has also shared powerful images of individuals who are wearing Guy Fawkes masks and feeding homeless people. But you don’t have to be sporting an Anonymous-associated disguise to do your part.

(Photo: Twitter)

“Anyone can start an #OPSafeWinter event,” reads a posting on a Facebook page associated with the effort. The posting also offers a slew of commonsense suggestions, like reaching out to local organizations that work with homeless people to see what is needed (do they need blankets or food?) or donating clothing. As heartbreaking as it is, because 2.5 million children are homeless, an all-time high in the U.S., giving toys to a shelter is always a good idea.

The campaign also hopes to humanize those who are down-and-out. It's sharing poignant reminders that sleeping in a cardboard box in a building doorway could happen to any of us. “The largest trigger for homelessness is loss of job. Don't think it can't happen to you,” the operator of the OPSafeWinter account tweeted on Tuesday.

Because most of us tend to avoid making either eye or verbal contact with homeless people, Operation Safe Winter asks us to acknowledge them.

“Even if one person see some homeless person on street, not to bypass him but to stand, speak and show compassion and (if is possible) to give something as donation to that person. That means much," the anonymous operator of the OpSafeWinter Twitter account wrote to The Daily Dot. Indeed, an experiment in New York City last year found that people don’t even recognize their own mothers when they are disguised as homeless individuals.

Of course, handing out food and blankets to individuals who are huddled on bus benches isn't the long-term solution to homelessness. Providing people with permanent housing, whether it’s a tiny house in Portland or a unit in a complex in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been proved to be the answer. But with more cities adopting draconian policies that criminalize homelessness, Operation Safe Winter is on the right track.