Apply for assistance
If you need help, here is how to ask.
Why we ask you to mail it
We used to take requests through a form on this website. Then several sites that list “free stuff” and giveaways added our form to their pages, and the volume stopped being something a person could read. At its worst we were receiving thousands of requests a day — tens of thousands in a week.
There is no version of this organization that can read sixty thousand requests a week, let alone check references, verify need and decide fairly between them. Real requests from people in genuine trouble were being buried under the volume. The form had stopped working for exactly the people it existed for.
Moving to a mailed application changed that immediately. We now receive a few hundred a week, and every one of them is read by a person.
We know what this costs
Printing a form, filling it in and finding a stamp is harder than clicking a button. Someone without a printer at home has further to go than they did before, and there are people we could have helped who will not get through. We are not going to pretend otherwise.
What we can tell you is what the effort buys. Your application is read rather than counted. Nothing about your situation is judged by a filter or a queue position. If you can get a form to us, a person will sit down with it.
If a library, church, school or community center is nearby, most will let you print a form and many will have stamps. A case manager or social worker can also apply on your behalf.
Who we are able to help
What we can give depends entirely on what has been donated to us, so the honest answer is that it varies month to month. These are the people our board reviews.
Individuals and families
People who cannot meet a particular need on their own right now, and who are working toward steadier ground. Students and job seekers trying to establish themselves. Seniors on fixed incomes. Families facing a sudden gap — a lost vehicle, a displacement, a household stripped bare.
The application asks you to explain your circumstances and why the need is one you cannot currently meet yourself. Answer it fully; that section is what the board actually reads.
Nonprofits and community groups
Registered 501(c)(3) organizations, schools, shelters, food programs and community centers. We share equipment, supplies, vehicles, facility space and program funding — most often computers, which we receive more of than anything else.
Use the organization form rather than the individual one, and tell us what the request is for and who it reaches.
Please read this before you apply
If you currently receive assistance from TANF, SSI, SSDI, welfare, food stamps or a similar program, accepting property, a financial gift or a service from us counts as additional income and may reduce or end those benefits. This catches people out and the consequences can be worse than the help was worth. Speak to your case manager before you apply, not after.
How to apply
Three steps on your side. The mailing address is printed on the form itself.
Download the right form
One for individuals and families, one for organizations. Using the wrong one delays your review.
Fill it in completely
Every section, and sign it. An incomplete application cannot be reviewed, and we have no way to write back and ask.
Print, sign and mail it
Send it to the address on the form. Keep a copy of what you sent for your own records.
Then it is with us
We read it, verify what you have told us, and check it against what is actually in our inventory.
Thirty days, then apply again
Your application stays on active file for thirty days from the day it arrives. If something in our inventory matches your need in that window, someone will contact you directly. If you have not heard from us after thirty days, you are welcome to apply again — and it is worth doing, because what we hold changes constantly.
Silence is not a judgment
We cannot reply to every application, and not hearing back usually means we simply did not have the thing you needed during those thirty days. It is not a verdict on you or your circumstances. We would rather tell you that plainly than leave you wondering what you did wrong.
Please do not call about an application.
Our phone lines exist to accept incoming donations, and the people who answer them cannot see applications, check a status or answer eligibility questions. There is nothing they can tell you.
Every call about an application is a call not spent bringing in the donations that make the help possible in the first place. Keeping those lines clear is genuinely part of how this works. We are asking you to respect it, and we are grateful to everyone who does.
Requests for assistance are only accepted on the mailed forms above. We cannot take them by phone, email or through any other form on this site.
Questions people ask
Can I apply on behalf of someone else?
If you are that person’s case manager or assigned social worker, yes. Otherwise the application needs to come from the individual themselves, since it asks about circumstances only they can describe and it has to be signed.
Will you ask me for more information?
Sometimes. Depending on what you have asked for, we may need financial details, references or documentation before we can proceed. For larger requests we verify references and run background checks — that is how we keep misleading requests from taking resources meant for people in real need.
What can I actually ask for?
Describe the need rather than naming an item, because we can only give what has been donated to us. Computers are the thing we hold most consistently. Beyond that it genuinely varies — furniture, household goods, equipment, a vehicle, occasionally funding toward a specific bill or program.
How long does a review take?
Up to thirty days, and often the full thirty. Volume is high and the checks take time. Please be patient with us rather than sending a second application inside the window — duplicates slow the queue for everyone.
Can I email the form instead of mailing it?
No. Mailed applications are the only ones we review, and that is deliberate — it is the whole reason a person is able to read yours. An emailed form will not enter the queue.
I want to help instead. Where do I start?
Everything given to the people above arrives as a donation from somebody else first. See what we accept, or read our mission for where it goes.