Locating Food Banks, Soup Kitchens and Homeless Shelters

[tcmgpt13]

Food banks often give out food or will know where to obtain food. Times are hard and becoming harder and many are in need. Please, anyone who can add to this list, chime in so those who need help receive it:

Feeding America (formerly Second Harvest)

Find a Local Food Bank | Feeding America

Food banks by state:

United States of America - Find a Food Bank - The Global FoodBanking Network

Charity Navigator - Your Search Results

Homeless shelters and soup kitchens:

Homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and missions directory for USA & Canada!

Food Banks and Soup Kitchens:

Soup Kitchens, Food Pantries, Emergency Food Programs Assisted Through Food Banks

Locate food pantries:

Food Pantries | Soup Kitchens | Food Banks

Food banks by cities (yellow pages):

Find Local and National Food Banks in these Major Cities

CALIFORNIA food banks:

Find a Food Bank

REGIONAL LOS ANGELES: FOOD BANKS

Los Angeles Regional Foodbank - Fighting Hunger. Giving Hope.
New England: Information about Free or low cost food

Serve New England | Free and Low Cost Food Resources | BostonResourceNet.org

GREATER BOSTON Food Bank:

The Greater Boston Food Bank

NEW YORK CITY: Food Bank

Food Bank For New York City Food Bank For New York City Hunger, hungry, anti-hunger, hunger relief, food bank for new york city, food for survival, soup kitchen, food pantry, shelter, food assistance, nonprofit, poverty, poor, free food, food drive,

GREATER CHICAGO: FOOD BANKS

Greater Chicago Food Depository: Providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in our community

Northern Illinois Food Bank

Home - Northern Illinois Food Bank

WASHINGTON DC: FOOD BANKS

Responding to Hunger in the Washington, DC Region | Capital Area Food Bank

ATLANTA: FOOD BANKS

Atlanta Community Food Bank

Homeless shelters:

Homeless Shelters | Find Homeless Shelters | Homeless Shelter Search

Women’s shelters:

Women's Shelters | Shelters For Women | Battered Women's Shelters

Meals on Wheels Association of America (MOWAA)

MOWAA works toward the social, physical, nutritional, and economic betterment of vulnerable Americans. The guiding principle to which it subscribes is to help those men and women who are elderly, homebound, disabled, frail, or at risk.

Meals On Wheels Association of America

Family to Family (not in all states or areas)

Mostly personal care items and OTC medications, not food. Site has details of locations in ten states.

Family-to-Family

SNAP (Formerly Called FOOD STAMPS)

USDA governmnent food assistance program

FNS Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

PET FOOD BANKS:

Save Our Pets Food Bank

National Resources for Low Income Individuals:

free money, I need help: NATIONAL RESOURCES FOR LOW INCOME INDIVIDUALS

Assistance to Obtain Prescriptions at No or Low Cost;

Prescription Assistance Program |

NeedyMeds

About SCBN

Patient Assistance Programs - Prescription Drugs for the Uninsured

[janedoe]

Elks lodge #1538 in santa maria does thansgiving and christmas baskets every year, usually contain 2 whole chickens,canned goods, bread milk, all kind of stuff. we used to give turkeys, but one year they found a bunch of the turkeys people threw away because they didnt know how to cook them so now we do chickens instead.
also local churches do whats called 'brown bag program', my dad and i help to pack boxes with various stuff for folks every other tuesday.
so local churches, Elks lodges, even our local news teams are putting up containers and doing food drives for people.. its great that people are helping OUR people here where we need it! theres no reason for anybody to be going hungry with so much food available, we just need to share a lot more.we have morbidly obese people and people starving in the same towns!! thats crazy...
meals on wheels, excelent program, that is handled a lot by our churchs. and it doesnt matter if your catholic, christian, jewish, hungry is hungry and all are welcomed

[tcmgpt13]

Thanks Jane for adding more information to this thread about your area along with some good suggestions in general about how to look for food help. The Elks sounds like a really good organization as far as helping others, not just at the holidays but year round.

Does anyone know anything about other fraternal organizations which are currently helping those in need, especially with food and shelter? Or toys?

Also any information about churches and church organization who distribute food or provide shelter.

Also do not forget the Salvation Army who provides food and shelter for so many. Donations are down this year so any help you can give, even a quarter in the red kettle, will help others in need.

[tcmgpt13]

Here's what I could find about the UK as far as food banks, shelter and soup kitchens:

UK FOOD BANKS


THE FOOD BANK in UK:

The Food Bank : Home : Sowing the seeds of love

This page from that site describes how to get help in UK (you must be referred)

The Food Bank : About The Food Bank : Sowing the seeds of love

Referral Agencies who work with The Food Bank in UK

http://www.mkfoodbank.org.uk/docs/re...gency-list.pdf

Locating Food Banks in UK

United Kingdom - Find a Food Bank - The Global FoodBanking Network

HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS

Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity - choose your location

HELP FOR HOMELESS HOTLINE:

Homeless UK : Shelter's Free Housing Advice Helpline

SHELTER FROM THE STORM:

Shelter From The Storm UK - Home

CAMBRIDGE

Jimmys Cambridge

OXFORD

Oxford Homeless Pathways

SOUP KITCHENS

These are mostly mobile soup kitchens and the only way I could get this to the site was through google cache. Hopefully this will be up for awhile anyway.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&ct=clnk&gl=us

LONDON soup_kitchen

IPSWICH: Ipswich Soup Kitchen (U.K)

PETERBOROUGH: Home - Peterborough Soup Kitchen

[Dzana]

ahhhhhhhhh justa a data on a piece of paper .............

do u have a clue how many ppl get turned down by homeless units??

do u know how easy is to become homeless..... all it takes is nuts landlord a criminal in soul........ as in my case ........../ i lost everything over night my whole life.......... and u know wot ....... homeless unit turned me down as well........ they give no chit.......... u can sleep rough .......... whether man or woman or a child ,,,,,,,,, noone cares ........... i was jut lucky that later on i received proper help........so sad........

[tcmgpt13]

Yes, well I am sure there are many cases of people who slip through the cracks. I was honestly taken aback by the few resources for private help in the UK (that referral need for help from The Food Bank sounded as if there were government help behind it and that requirement sounds like pure social worker interference to me). I guess people in UK have expected the government to step in to solve everything for those in need and so organizing private help is probably fairly new there, if indeed The Food Bank is private organization. Maybe they are more used to organizing like the government does? No practice at being volunteers.

It is not easy being homeless. It is true that when losing work it is easy to become homeless as well. Still I have to say I think that the American people as a whole have been some of the most generous people towards those in need, even towards former enemies.

Originally Posted by Dzana

ahhhhhhhhh justa a data on a piece of paper .............

do u have a clue how many ppl get turned down by homeless units??

do u know how easy is to become homeless..... all it takes is nuts landlord a criminal in soul........ as in my case ........../ i lost everything over night my whole life.......... and u know wot ....... homeless unit turned me down as well........ they give no chit.......... u can sleep rough .......... whether man or woman or a child ,,,,,,,,, noone cares ........... i was jut lucky that later on i received proper help........so sad........

[janedoe]

most people are 3 paychecks away from homeless. what that means is if you lose your job, no money coming in, you can probably scrape together rent for the next month, but not for the month after that.within 3 months you will have no place to live. what money you do have will goto food.most people dont know how to apply for food stamps, and others, like me, cant get food stamps if your on disability. ( they think you get enough with ssi and you dont. i get $ 760 a month) most rent is at least $1500 a month..it also takes forever to get any kind of food stamps, welfare, housing so six months down the road, your totally screwed! by now youve got an eviction notice, and your cars about to get repoed.
im lucky, i got excelent survivor skills,( street wise, not camping wise) i do very well broke.. its a talent, definatly.
homeless shelters here are only open in winter months, you have to 'check in' by 6pm.the beds are always full. but even if you do get a bed, theyre very dirty so somebody with morgys thats a death sentance basicly. you cant be around any kind of colds,flus, disease when you have open sores, and open sores will get you turned away by a shelter..so shelters really arent any kind of answer in this town anyway.
what do you do? pray you've got a kind relative with a couch

[jonsi]

Just tonight, my mom is putting together Christmas "packages" donated from the members of my church. Tomorrow they will deliver boxes which include a full Christmas dinner, staples, toys & clothes for over 100 families living in northern New Mexico. All are donations from individual members from our church & we coordinate with the postal service so that "packages" go to families in need.

A few months ago the youth group volunteered to donate food & time to a nearby soup kitchen in Espanola, NM. I volunteered to help and it was hard work to prepare and serve lunch to 60 people (clean-up was HARD!)

So, another suggestion is to contact churches if you are in need. Maybe your local post office too.

If you have the means to help someone else, please do so. Helping others feels sooo good!

In the white light,
~jonsi

[tcmgpt13]

Australian Food Banks and Housing. It appears that most help is from government services in Australia though there is some private help.

Foodbank - An Australia Without Hunger

VicRelief Foodbank

Housing and homelessness

Catherine House Inc.

PO Box 6031
Adelaide, South Australia 5000

Ph: (0 8232 2282
Fax: (0 8223 7548
Email: reception@catherinehouse.org.au
Website: Emergency Housing | Women?s Homelessness | Catherine House

Overview:Catherine House is the only provider of supported accommodation in South Australia to women over 21 years, unaccompanied by children, who are homeless for reasons other than domestic violence.

Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons Inc.
32 Moore St, Adelaide, SA 5000 Australia
Telephone
8232 0048

Adelaide Day Centre for Homeless Persons Inc. | SAcommunity - Connecting Up Australia.

Coolock House

PO Box 362
Morphett Vale, South Australia
5162

Ph: (0 8382 6699
Fax: (0 8382 6322
Email: co-ord.coolock@ywacss.asn.au
Website:

Overview:

Coolock House provides short-term accommodation and support for homeless women under 25 and their children.

For a lot more choices for help see this website, all run by the Sisters of Mercy:

Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia - Mercy in Action

Some soup kitchens:

St. Agnes Soup Kitchen
Port Macquarie NSW 2444

Meal provided every Monday 11am -1.15pm.at Catholic Men’s Club (up from KFC)

St. Agnes Soup Kitchen Port Macquarie : Port Macquarie 2444 | Australia | OurPatch

CARING IS SHARING - FIVE LOAVES MOBILE SOUP KITCHEN
Lismore NSW 2480

CARING IS SHARING - FIVE LOAVES MOBILE SOUP KITCHEN Lismore : Lismore 2480 | Lismore | OurPatch

From a forum in Sydney discussing homeless help:

The Vincentian Village is at the east end of Francis Lane

Vincentian Village - Family and Women Crisis Service

Phone: 02 9360 2140
Fax: 02 9380 2810
Mail: 50 Francis St, East Sydney NSW 2010

Jeff's food van parks on the corner of Yurong St and Mary's Rd

Both are east of Hyde Park (off William St).

At either of those two places you can also get directions to St. Canices Soup Kitchen and Wayside Chappel, a short walk up the road into Kings Cross.

Information from another site about St. Canices soup kitchen (http://www.yaim.jesuit.org.au/sydney.htm):

Soup/meals are provided to homeless people living around the Kings Cross area. This was started by young adults involved in Jesuit networks, and is sponsored by St Canice’s Parish, Elizabeth Bay.

Contact:
St Canice’s Parish
28 Roslyn Street
Elizabeth Bay NSW 2011

Tel: (02) 9358 5229

Fax: (02) 9358 3170

Help for Youth:

NSW
Canterbury Multicultural Youth Health Services
Belmore Youth Resources Centre
Bldg 3, Redman Parade
BELMORE NSW 2192
Phone: (02) 9787 0600

CMYHS works together with young people between the ages 12-24 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in the local Canterbury area. CMYHS provides counselling, support information, education, resources and referral for any health related issues. Also facilitates Drop in Program twice a week with access to doctor and dentist. Also provides outreach groups in partnership with local youth services and health promotion education

Cellblock Youth Health Services
142 Carillon Avenue
CAMPERDOWN NSW 2050
Phone: (02) 9516 2233

Promotes health and well being of young people aged 12-20 and their communities in the (Central Sydney Area) who have experienced homelessness, marginalisation or who are at risk. Young people
join with the Cellblock team using creative and innovative processes to improve their physical, mental, emotional, cultural, spiritual or environmental health. The service is free, safe and confidential.

CHAIN - Community Health for Adolescents in Need
1A Denison Street
PO Box 1614
WOLLONGONG NSW 2500
Phone: (02) 4226 5816

CHAIN supports young people aged 12-24 who are at risk emotionally, mentally and physically. The focus is on the promotion of continued self-reliance using a holistic health framework. CHAIN engages with young people to provide health promotion and education programs, direct clinical diagnosis and treatment, a first port-of-call to promote long-term health improvement and referral to other services.

Coffs Harbour Youth Health Service
Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Locked Mail Bag 812
COFFS HARBOUR NSW 2450
Phone: (02) 6656 7900

The Coffs Harbour IHSHY Service is attached to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in the Mid North Coast Area Health Service. It provides outreach counselling, brief crisis intervention, referral to mainstream health services and JPET. Also runs innovative early intervention and prevention group programs for young people at risk of mental health problems.

Crossroads Youth Health Service
49 Worrigee Street
PO Box 55
NOWRA NSW 2541
Phone: (02) 4423 1784

The Crossroads Service is located in Nowra, with outreach services across the Shoalhaven LGA. IHSHY funded services include counseling for 12-25 year olds, group work, education and health promotion programs targeting at-risk young people, individual support and advocacy, community development and capacity building.

High Street Youth Health Services
65 High Street
HARRIS PARK NSW 2145
Phone: (02) 9687 2544

HSYHS promotes health and well being for 12-25 year olds in the Parramatta. Holroyd, Auburn and Baulkham Hills Local Government Areas. Priorities are the needs of young people who are at risk or are experiencing homelessness. Services include medical, counselling and therapeutic services (generalist and alcohol and other drugs), information, consultation, intake, assessment, referral and crisis intervention, education programs and advocacy, program planning and management (drop-in, creative arts, group work and health promotion), basic needs services (food, showers and laundry), advocacy and support for young people with accommodation, financial, educational and employment issues, interagency collaboration and coordination.

Penrith Street Work Project
PO Box 869
PENRITH NSW 2751
Phone: (02) 4721 5670 psp@pnc.com.au

PSP provides a range of health services, information, referral and advocacy support to homeless and at risk youth in the Nepean and surrounding areas.

Muralappi Youth Health Service
The Settlement Neighbourhood Centre, Redfern
17 Edward Street Chippendale
PO Box 845
STRAWBERRY HILLS NSW 2012
Phone: (02) 9698 3097

Provides a focus on health, cultural camps and educational activities for Aboriginal young people. Programs assist in moving at risk young people into more creative ventures through a focus on building resilience and strengthening culture by reconnecting with elders. Works closely with the Links to Learning Program to assist young people to return to formal education and learning.

Youth Health Outreach Team YHOT
Central Coast
38 Pacific Highway
WYONG NSW 2259
Phone: (02) 4356 9333

YHOT is a mobile outreach service that offers resources, support and education on health issues to young people, aged 12-24 years, who are experiencing homelessness or who have transient lifestyles that increase their vulnerability to risk. YHOT works with service providers to assist their workers in their work with young people. YHOT works with young people to empower them to make informed choices regarding their psychosocial and physical health. YHOT is part of the Youth Health Service and covers the Wyong and Gosford LGAs.

Homeless Persons Information 1800234566.

Assuming you are a male over 18, the following services are available:

Hope Hostel Parramatta, St Judes Bankstown, Rawson Centre Newtown, Liverpool Centre, Vinces Place Campbelltown, Foster House Surrey Hills, Matthew Talbot are few services available.

More information is found on the forum I copied this from:
Sydney Homeless - New South Wales, Australia - Homeless Forums

Also the Salvation Army in Australia may be able to give help.