Free christmas dinner for low income families

To get into the Christmas Spirit I wanted to create new thread to help low income families during Christmas. We all know that Christmas is a time for celebration where families get together and exchange gifts and have amazing food. Unfortunately this is not the norm for everyone and families on a low income find it very hard to get enough food to feed the family during Christmas. If we all do our bit by finding charities that help low income families during Christmas we have a chance to make 2014 great. I wanted to get started by highlighting Food Pantries.

Food Pantries

Food Pantries is an amazing website which is basically a database for all the food pantries and hunger programs in the USA. Using Food Pantries you can find local pantries, soup kitchens, food shelves, food banks and all other hunger programs. During Christmas these Food Pantries will offer food and ingredients to help low income families who are experiencing financial hardship and need help with money.

Using Food Pantries you can also find a list of non profit subsidized grocery resources that are available on the internet. Using Food Pantries you can find out the locations of the pantry, opening hours, special dates as well as Christmas assistance with food.

If you think you'll need Christmas assistance for food you need to find all your local Food Pantries in your state and then contact them one by one asking for financial assistance with food during Christmas. These pantries will put your name on a waiting list and then contact you a few days before Christmas so you can get your food assistance.

I have taken the liberty of sharing some of the Food Pantry locations by state, you can find the Food Pantry offering Christmas assistance on the list below. The credit: FoodPantries.Org. I really hope this helps.

• Alaska (133)
• Alabama (377)
• Arkansas (560)
• Arizona (311)
• California (626)
• Colorado (206)
• Connecticut (388)
• District of Columbia (37)
• Delaware (69)
• Florida (766)
• Georgia (336)
• Hawaii (103)
• Iowa (168)
• Idaho (162)
• Illinois (475)
• Indiana (534)
• Kansas (92)
• Kentucky (74)
• Louisiana (201)
• Massachusetts (429)
• Maryland (119)
• Maine (295)
• Michigan (788)
• Minnesota (572)
• Missouri (299)
• Mississippi (172)

• Montana (126)
• North Carolina (412)
• North Dakota (139)
• Nebraska (71)
• New Hampshire (275)
• New Jersey (419)
• New Mexico (417)
• Nevada (44)
• New York (1175)
• Ohio (550)
• Oklahoma (364)
• Oregon (282)
• Pennsylvania (207)
• Rhode Island (127)
• South Carolina (160)
• South Dakota (73)
• Tennessee (145)
• Texas (482)
• Utah (144)
• Virginia (250)
• Vermont (153)
• Washington (173)
• Wisconsin (150)
• West Virginia (131)
• Wyoming (37)

The Salvation Army has already been mentioned but I wanted to point out that they offer free food for the festive period. You can call the Salvation Army on 1-800-SAL-ARMY to find out which shelters they offer food to for a hot Christmas Dinner. Take action early to find out all the local shelters in your area and book early because spaces get filled quickly. Hope this helps

Really useful thread @SueStanton, hopefully this will help low income families with food this Christmas. Another option you could consider is finding your local Social Service Center's who have a list of where the local Food Banks are. These food banks are invaluable for low income families and you could get free food every month or every week to help with grocery costs. You can also get a free Christmas Dinner during the holiday periods. Again you must apply early to have guaranteed help during Christmas.

You should also consider contacted religious organizations such as Churches to see if they can offer any assistance. Religious organizations usually have more money available during Christmas and this is distributed to low income families and individuals. Please Please take action today and reach out to these organizations early so you can get financial assistance towards Christmas.

Great post, I wanted to chime in with suggestions if I may. When I was on a low income I approached local businesses for help during Christmas. This might seem a little inappropriate however I was overwhelmed with the response that I got. I had several meetings with directors and managers and I am grateful for the help they were able to give. I got money towards Christmas dinner, money towards gifts and was also invited to the Office Party along with my family. I am not sure if this will work everywhere but what I did notice is that during the Holiday seasons such as Christmas businesses are willing to help people in need.

Try to reach out to local businesses by phone or letter and ask to speak to the directors or better still email the directors and reach out for help as a local community member. Most of the time you'll be rejected but there are some seriously generous organizations in the USA and they are more than likely to help you.