Learn about holiday assistance for Christmas, Easter, or Thanksgiving from the Salvation Army.
The holiday season can bring both joy but also stress - especially when a family struggles to afford food, gifts, or warm clothes. One of the most visible organizers of holiday assistance is The Salvation Army. Many of these programs are tied to Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter, with the charity offering meals, gifts, and more to families, seniors, and children in need. Find more information below on how the Salvation Army spreads holiday joy year round, with links to local offices including their contact information.
- focus is on families with children, as they should never go without during a holiday period, even if their parents are struggling. Additional services are for families, even single adults, that are living in poverty or the unemployed. Regardless of your religion, income, race, or background, the Salvation Army administers programs for the holidays.
Core holiday services from the Salvation Army
The Salvation Army remains a pillar for holiday assistance, running seasonal programs in most communities. Being a national organization that operates in most cities and counties, the Salvation Army tries to recognize all holidays in accordance with local culture and customs, including non-religious holiday observances. . All of this is done while respecting their culture and traditions. Their holiday offerings generally include the following. Christmas meals help feed struggling people. After all, the winter months / Christmas is when most families are trying to provide food, gifts, and a joyous time for their families and children. Oftentimes there is also the ongoing struggle with trying to provide for your family not to mention paying your regular monthly bills. Local Salvation Army centers host hot holiday meals, give out food boxes, and in some cities deliver prepared meals to homebound individuals and seniors. There are many locations that have sit-down meals or take-home kits as the season approaches. Find additional programs that offer free Christmas meals . Salvation Army meal programs often come with other support for those who attend. Many locations distribute holiday cards, small gifts, toys, and groceries to hospitalized youths and seniors. Prepared meals may be delivered to shut-ins where volunteers are available. Angel Tree i
- another program that the Salvation Army has in place to collect gifts for distribution to children around Christmas time Locals register children and sometimes seniors as “Angels,” then donors adopt tags and fulfill gift lists. While it varies in each year, most years Angel Tree from the Salvation Army serves over one million children nationwide. Depending on the exact center, Angel Tree may also include the collection of food and meals to help struggling families enjoy the holiday season and learn more on how
Angel Tree provides holiday help . This is after all a signature Salvation Army program in which donors fulfill gift wishes for registered children and sometimes seniors. Trees or virtual tags (online sites) list the child’s first name, age, clothing sizes, and wish items. Hundreds of communities run Angel Tree annually, with registration windows often opening in September or October and closing as capacity is reached. Then, through the public’s generosity, people buy the children gifts, clothes, food, coats, and much more . This ensures that these children have gifts under the tree on Christmas morning. Also many businesses also help keep this service running, and their employees pool their money to participate. Coats for Kids program and winter free winter clothing distributions often happen in tandem with holiday gift drives. This is another Salvation Army sponsored program that relies on the support of generous businesses and individuals in your community. Members of your local town or city will buy a warm winter coat for children whose family can’t afford to provide for them. The Salvation Army will then distribute the coats (usually winter) to boys and girl in the community. The free winter gear, including jackets/coats and similar winter-wear efforts run alongside holiday gifting. Local corps collect new or gently used coats and distribute them to children who need warm clothing for winter. Some locations add gloves, scarves, or boots when donations allow. Seasonal pages on Salvation Army regional sites confirm coat drives and winter assistance as a component of holiday support with more details here on places for free winter clothes . While not all, many Salvation Army centers are part of Toys for Tots. Families selected for assistance from this US Marine Corps and sometimes Salvation Army Christmas program receive a toy as well as often a food box from the Salvation Army holiday meal service. There are dozens of other similar holiday services as well, from the Salvation Army as well as other agencies. Find additional places to apply for free Christmas gifts as well as a listing of resources. Thanksgiving meals distribution from Salvation Army is very common. The Salvation Army prepares and shares meals with the hungry, unhoused / homeless and disadvantaged during Thanksgiving. Depending on location, a family may receive a sit-down meal, a take-home basket, a free Thanksgiving turkey or delivery if homebound. Local and national Salvation Army pages each fall announce meal service details, call for turkey and pantry donations, and publish dates and hours. The details vary by location, but Thanksgiving programs may provide a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. When this is not an option, there may be a takeout lunch bag, small gifts and toys passed out for your children during this holiday. Some times what is served will depend on what the applicant has request, and what type of food has been donated. In some parts of the county, prepared Thanksgiving meals and baskets are delivered by volunteers to those families in need, including seniors or shut-ins, who can’t pick up the food themselves. Locate more information about free Thanksgiving dinners . Salvation Army tries to help at Easter. While not as common, many Salvation Army locations also try to help struggling families keep food on their table during the Easter holiday as well. Local corps may offer baskets, egg events for children, and hot meals where volunteers and donations permit. These offerings are announced by each branch as the season approaches. Easter eggs may be hidden for the joy of local children during Easter.
Find a Salvation Army social service office for holiday assistance
Select a state below for local details, with the phone numbers and local counties listed on each state . Or use the search bar at the bottom of the site or in the navigation bar to search by county or city. In addition, we also have a list of Salvation Army centers by state and county below, and many of them offer help at the holidays. Another option is to use the national Salvation Army “Find Services” lookup for your ZIP code at https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/holiday-giving/ , then call your local corps to learn the application steps, documents required, and deadlines. Registration commonly requires a photo ID, proof of address, and proof of children’s ages for gift programs. Apply as early as possible, since many Angel Tree and seasonal food programs stop taking applications once capacity is reached. Call them to learn about the application process as well as any deadlines in place. Every year hundreds of thousands of families receive some form of holiday assistance, gifts, meals and food from the Salvation Army, and never hesitate to contact them. Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii and
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