FREE Christmas Gifts & Food in Colorado

Sometimes, Colorado families need a little help with free Christmas gifts and food. Life happens to all of us. A layoff, an illness, a recent move, a major repair or any unexpected expense can make it impossible to afford the extra gifts and food to celebrate the holiday season.

Fortunately, there are agencies that can help. We’re dedicated to helping low income families all across America find the help they need to enjoy their holidays. If you need help in a different state, you can click here to find help in your area.

Get free Christmas gifts and food in Colorado!

There are some agencies that provide assistance to the majority of the state. No matter where you are located, you can reach out to your local branch for assistance.

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army provides holiday meals, toys, clothing and more to low income families. If you’re going to need a little (or a lot) of help this holiday season, contact the Salvation Army right away. You can visit their website to find your local chapter. 

Toys for Tots

Most areas of the US are also served by the Marine’s Toys for Tots campaign. To participate, you’ll need to visit their official website. 

Get free Christmas gifts and food in your local Colorado county!

You’ll find the best help in your local area. It’s usually the local food banks, churches, and Community Action agencies that provide the best assistance. In order to get the help your family needs, you’ll want to select your county from the list below.

If you don’t see your county in this list, just leave a comment on this page and let me know. I’ll forward your request to one of our researchers and we’ll get that information for you as quickly as possible.

Adams County

If you’re a resident of Adams County, we’ve found some helpful Christmas resources for you! Adams County includes Thornton, Commerce City, and Federal Heights, among others. If you live in these areas, the following Christmas and Holiday programs should be a great help this season:

Holiday Toy Assistance:

Angel Tree program is held during Christmas, which allows qualifying low-income families to submit a wish list to generous sponsors who buy toys and new clothes for their children to put under the tree. There is an application process for your child to become an “angel,” but once that is done, you and your children can just enjoy the holidays.

Toy Shop Program welcomes Adam’s County families to receive holiday dolls and toys for children during the holidays through their Kenzi’s Causes Annual Holiday Toy Drive Initiative. This event is held on the first and second Saturdays of December throughout the state of Colorado, including in Adam County, Colorado. Each child gets a big toy, a small toy, and a wooden toy car at each location.

Toys for Tots holds a toy drive every Christmas season and puts out donation boxes to collect toys from generous community members. They then distribute those toys to families suffering from financial instability in the Adams County area in Colorado. Families interested in getting toys for their children can sign up via the request toys link on their website. Residents must meet income requirements and have a child in their home under the age of 12 to take part.

Holiday Food Assistance:

Adams County Food Bank offers a food pantry for low-income families, seniors, and veterans of Adams County, Colorado. Visitors may visit the pantry for food once per week for perishable foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and bread and they can visit once per month for staple foods like canned goods, pre-packaged foods, rice, and beans.

Food Bank of the Rockies has a food pantry available for multiple counties in Colorado, including Adams County. The organization has teamed up with 800 Hunger Relief Partners to use mobile pantries to distribute food to the communities for families in need.

The Salvation Army provides several programs for residents of Adams County who are struggling financially. They offer a food pantry where residents can get free bags of groceries once every thirty days and a soup kitchen open all year round.

Alamosa County

Families in Alamosa County, Colorado, can receive gifts, food, books and so much more. If you live in Alamosa, Hooper or another town in Alamosa County, then these are the agencies that can help you this holiday season.

Arapahoe County

Shay has put together a long list of agencies that can help Arapahoe County residents! Whether you live in Centennial, Englewood, Greenwood Village or somewhere else in the Arapahoe County area, you should be able to find the help you need here in this list.

Denver

It appears that Denver is both a city and a county. If you live in this area, below is a list of programs that can be very helpful to you during the holiday season:

Holiday Toy Assistance:

The Department of Human Services in Denver holds a seasonal holiday drive. You might be able to get help with toys and other small gifts from the drive if you apply early enough to get on the list. Spots fill up fast, but DHS might be able to refer you to another agency that could help.

At the Annunciation Catholic School, you can browse handmade gifts and items when you shop at Santa’s Workshop. These little toys can make an excellent addition to your Christmas tree. The shop might help support low-income families if they can’t afford to buy, but most items are priced for just a few dollars or sometimes less!

The Kenzis Causes Santa Shop might help you be able to get a gift to put under the tree for your kids. The program has income requirements you may need to meet in order to qualify for the program. If you do though, you families can go on the first and second Saturdays in December to receive a gift for your kids. Each child gets a big toy, a small toy, and a wooden toy to put under the tree.

Toys for Tots holds a toy drive every Christmas season and puts out donation boxes to collect toys from generous community members. Like Adams County, the closest Denver, Colorado location is Aurora, Colorado. Families suffering from financial instability in the Denver area in Colorado can get gifts and toys to help them make the Holidays a joyous occasion. Residents must meet income requirements and have a child in their home under the age of 12 to take part. Families interested in getting toys for their children can sign up via the request toys link on their website. 

Denver Santa Claus Shop provides assistance to parents who are referred to DSCS from agencies, like Denver Human Services, Social Service Agencies, and Community Partners. Parents are welcome in early December to shop for their kids aged 0 to 11 years old. To participate in the program, you must be a Denver, Colorado resident, have one or more children who are 11 or younger, and receive service from Denver Human Services or a Community Partner.

Holiday Food Assistance:

Holiday Food Boxes is a program hosted by Community Ministry Food Pantry & More. For families who pre-register, they offer food boxes for both Thanksgiving and Christmas (although you may only sign up for one event per year). Inside each food box contains traditional holiday food items like stuffing, potatoes, canned fruits, cake mix, Jell-O, pie, vegetables, and meat (or there may be a gift card you can use to purchase meat or your choice of a meat substitute). Fresh food items, such as bread and eggs are also added to the holiday box. These holiday boxes are usually given out on the Monday before the holiday.

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Nicole Thelin

Nicole is the owner and lead researcher for Low Income Relief. She has over 20 years of professional research and writing experience, and she has been solely dedicated to investigating low income topics for the last 10 years. Nicole started Low Income Relief after a personal experience with poverty. When her husband was medically discharged from the US Army, their family experienced tremendous financial hardship. Nicole was able to gather help from multiple community agencies and move into a nearby low income housing unit in just two weeks! Since then, Nicole has been dedicated to helping low income families in crisis. She regularly spends hundreds of hours combing through countless resources to make sure that Low Income Relief has the most comprehensive and complete resource directories on the internet today. Prior to starting Low Income Relief, Nicole worked as a novelist, journalist, ghostwriter and content creator. Her work has been featured in various print and online publications, including USA Today, The Daily Herald, The Chronicle and more. Her work has also been featured by Google for Publishers and other leading industry publications.