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Get FREE Christmas Gifts in Massachusetts

Get FREE Christmas Gifts in Massachusetts

Free Christmas gifts, meals and more are available from agencies across Massachusetts! We’ve found many programs that can help you with holiday meals, free toys, and even free Christmas trees if you need a little help with your holiday celebration this year.

There’s no shame in needing a little help around the holidays. Life just seems to get more and more expensive every year. Holidays are hard and these organizations are designed to help. My family even received Christmas assistance for a few years when my children were young, so I know how valuable these programs can be.

Get Free Christmas Gifts in Massachusetts

Many of the well-known nationwide charities like Salvation Army and Toys for Tots also help families in Massachusetts during the holiday season. If you need Christmas help, these are often the best place to turn – but you have to act fast because their programs start filling up early! Many of these programs begin registering in September or October.

Project Just Because

Project Just Because serves children throughout the state! No matter where you live in Massachusetts, this program may be able to provide free Christmas gifts for your kids.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE: Any children in Massachusetts who are at least 18 months old and under age 18 may be able to receive free gifts from this program. You may need to meet income guidelines as well to demonstrate need.

HOW TO GET HELP: You will need to follow the email instructions on the Project Just Because website in order to register for this program. Please note that the registrations may fill up in one area but not another. For example, in 2023, the holiday program reached capacity in most areas but was still open to applicants in Hopkinton for a while longer.

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is a great place to go for free Christmas gifts. Their programs typically help children and sometimes seniors with free presents during the holidays. In many areas, they can also provide help with a hot holiday meal as well.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE: The Salvation Army serves everyone in need with a hot meal. The Angel Tree program, which provides free Christmas gifts, is usually reserved for children and sometimes seniors who belong to low income households.

HOW TO APPLY: You can register for the Angel Tree online in most areas. For other services, you’ll need to contact your local Salvation Army office directly to find out how to apply.

Toys for Tots

Another program that’s known to help families in Massachusetts during the holidays is Toys for Tots! This incredible service provides free Christmas gifts to children in every county throughout Massachusetts.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE: Low income children who live in Massachusetts may be able to get free toys from this organization. There is usually an age limit on these gifts but each chapter sets their own. It’s usually around 12 years old.

HOW TO APPLY: You can request a toy on the Toys for Tots website. Just click the Request a Toy button, select Massachusetts from the drop-down menu and then select your county to access the application.

More Christmas Help

There are more charities that provide free Christmas gifts to people in Massachusetts, too! Just like Salvation Army and Toys for Tots, these other organizations are nationwide providers that serve your area. You can find all the details about these other programs in our Nationwide Christmas Resource Directory.

Free Christmas Gifts in Your Area

In order to help your family have the best possible holiday season, we’ve looked for any Christmas resources exist in your local communities! We’re doing our best to research the entire state of Massachusetts, one county at a time!

Our team is constantly searching for financial assistance programs that can help you get free rent, clothing, and more. When we find a new program that provides holiday help, we add it to this list. Don’t forget to check back often for updates.

Bristol County

My Brother’s Keeper in Easton and Dartmouth invites low income families to apply for their holiday assistance program during their time of struggle. With this holiday program, they want to make sure everyone’s holiday is bright by treating the entire family, not just the children. They offer Christmas help for teens and adults, too! Each member of the family receives a gift and the family receives one $50 grocery store gift card as well.

Franklin County

Whether you live in Greenfield, Orange, Northfield, Bernardston, Buckland, Conway, Shutesbury-Erving, Deerfield, Montague, Sunderland or the surrounding area, we’ve found resources that can help your family with free Christmas gifts and food this holiday season!

Food Bank Of Western Massachusetts offers a mobile food bank that brings free, fresh and non-perishable foods to communities throughout Western Massachusetts. The mobile food bank offers several locations in multiple communities where distributions take place. Anyone can come and receive free food as there are no eligibility requirements. Food’s distributed on a first come first serve basis while supplies last. If you’re struggling during the holidays, you may be able to get some free food to supplement your holiday meal!

Franklin Area Survival Center in Turners Falls offers their food pantry to anyone in need of food to get them through a rough patch. Recipients receive canned and pre-packaged foods, fruits, vegetables, rice, beans, and meats. In addition, they may provide free turkeys for families to enjoy on Thanksgiving and Christmas with all the traditional holiday toppings.

Franklin Food Pantry in Franklin offers food to help with your holiday celebration. The pantry allows qualified residents to pick up fresh produce and bread frequently. Applicants must bring proof of residency to receive food. The amount of food distributed is based on the family’s household size.

Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund in Northampton provides gift vouchers that low income families can use to buy free Christmas gifts for their children. These vouchers are worth $40 per child between the ages of 1 and 14. You must live in southern Franklin County areas of Deerfield, Sunderland, Shutesbury, Leverett or Whately in order to qualify. The vouchers can only be used at certain participating toy stores in the area.

Hampden County

If you live in Hampden, Springfield, Holyoke, Ludlow, Westfield, Monson, or anywhere else in Hampden County, then you may be able to receive help from a few agencies listed below.

Northeast Center For Youth and Families in Easthampton provides free Christmas gifts to children who are in the care of NCYF during the holiday season. This program does not provide holiday gifts to families who are not already involved with NCYF services.

West Springfield hosts an annual Christmas program. The collect donations at Santa’s House that are used to buy gifts for families in West Springfield through Operation Santa. You will need to contact the city for more information about how to register, since the application link seems to change every year.

Hampshire County

Residents of Hampshire County can get help from several agencies! We’ve found help in Amherst, Easthampton, Northampton, Hadley, Belchertown and more!

Amherst Survival Center in Amherst invites families in need to their food pantry where they receive several bags of both perishable and non-perishable food items. They can provide up to 14 days worth of food. This organization has temporarily closed their free community store and are working on reopening it, so be sure to check with them for updates.

Northampton Survival Center in Northampton may be able to supplement your holiday meal with some grocery staples. Each family that visits the pantry receives several bags of both perishable and non-perishable food items once per month.

Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund provides gift vouchers that low income families can use to buy gifts for their children. These vouchers are worth $40 per child between the ages of 1 and 14. You must live in Hampshire County (except Ware) or southern Franklin County in order to apply. The vouchers can only be used at certain participating toy stores in the area.

Not Bread Alone Soup Kitchen in Amherst builds social bonds by inviting people to gather for community meals. They serve hot meals on Christmas and Thanksgiving. Everyone is welcome, regardless of their faith or financial status.

Plymouth County

Of course, Plymouth County includes Plymouth. Whether you live in Brockton, Plymouth, Bridgewater or the surrounding area, these agencies may be able to help you!

Children’s Holiday Fund in Kingston is the result of a partnership between several well-known operations in the area. This program provides free Christmas gifts, holiday meal baskets and other essentials for low income families in their area.

East Bridgewater HUGS Program in East Bridgewater helps struggling parents create happy holiday members for their children during the Christmas season. You can apply for this program online or through the mail.

Norwell Adopt-a-Family in Norwell has an Adopt-a-Family program that benefits families who are connected with the food bank. This program provides clothing and toys for each child. It appears that this program may provide help for adults too. 

Scituate Community Christmas is a community program that offers help for low income families in the community. You must live in Scituate, have a child enrolled in Scituate schools, or work in the city in order to get help from this program. If you qualify and your application is approved, you may receive free food, stocking stuffers, gifts, toys, and more. Applications are accepted on their website.

Worcester County

Urban Missionaries in Worcester provides holiday assistance to residents in their community. They host an annual Little Store for families who need them. They collect names throughout the season until December 23rd. Toys are sorted, bagged and distributed during a coordinated event.

Friendly House Inc in Worcester has a Social Services Program that can help with many different needs. In addition to holiday baskets and free Christmas gifts, this organization can also help with food, diapers, immigration services, notary services and more!

Gardner Lion’s Club in Gardner hosts a special Christmas Dinner for seniors and low income people in the community each year. This event is a coordinated effort between the Lion’s Club, the Leo Club and the Gardner Council on Aging.

Rachel’s Table in Worcester offers food for families in need. People may receive several bags of groceries to feed their entire family once per month as well as pick up holiday dinner boxes filled with turkey or ham and all the fixings for a traditional holiday meal.

Relief Recap

There are many ways you can get free Christmas gifts and other holiday assistance in Massachusetts! Whether you’re looking for help for teens, children, adults or seniors, the organizations in this list may be able to help you. Just contact the agencies on this list to apply – and don’t forget to check back next year for any new programs we’ve found!

Nicole is the founder and lead researcher of Low Income Relief. After a personal experience with poverty and homelessness following her husband's sudden medical discharge from the U.S. Army, Nicole discovered the life-changing impact of community resources. This experience ignited her passion for empowering others to navigate similar crises. Nicole launched her writing career at age 16, working for various newspapers and publications. Her commitment to in-depth research and accessible content has been recognized by Google for Publishers and other industry leaders. For over 20 years, she has applied her investigative skills to uncover the most helpful, up-to-date information on benefits programs and community resources, ensuring Low Income Relief maintains the most extensive resource databases available.

Catherine Marucci

Tuesday 14th of November 2023

Hi. If the resources above are not helpful, it may be worth calling 211 to see if they know of anything else in your area.

Jennifer Sullivan

Wednesday 18th of October 2023

Nothing for Norfolk county? Weymouth?

Catherine Marucci

Wednesday 18th of October 2023

Hi. If the info above is not useful in your area, it may be worth calling 211 to see if there is anything else they can suggest.

Nicole

Saturday 3rd of December 2022

Barnstable county please

Catherine Marucci

Saturday 3rd of December 2022

Hi Nicole. If the options above aren't useful in your area, it may be worth calling 211 to see if they know of anything else.

Mrs Claus

Tuesday 15th of November 2022

I’m sorry but I don’t want to sound mean but I just read through all of the comments before commenting myself and the amount of people who comment just basically not reading the post (which specifically says if your County is not listed, comment with your County) and someone will respond and let you know if that County is on their (this site’s) list - if not it will be added so people can help research for resources…. The majority of people who comment don’t even share which county they live in - I would really be surprised if even 25% actually shared their county. Also, this website (I’m not sure the details of how it is run so I apologize) but there is nothing whatsoever that would be considered misleading in any way, it’s a website sharing resources to help people with low income BY PROVIDING RESOURCES. THIS WEBSITE DOES NOT GIVE OUT MONETARY OR NON MONETARY ITEMS. Again I am so sorry I am just one person and I can only imagine how it feels to be the person or people who run this site seeing all these comments with people basically asking for help and I’m sorry but from the ones I read there are already resources available to every one of them that does in fact have children under 18. The fact this many people post these comments is just blowing my mind, that is just mind blowing. Again, I’m sorry I will stop reading now so I’m Not viewed as mean. Happy holidays

Catherine Marucci

Sunday 13th of November 2022

Hi Angela. It may be worth calling 211 to see if they know of anything in your local area.