Get FREE Christmas Gifts and Food in New York!

Need a little Christmas help? We know firsthand how frustrating it is when you can’t provide your kiddos with a huge holiday celebration. Sometimes, financial stress can make the holidays downright stressful and depressing. We found help for free Christmas gifts and food in New York!

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Get free Christmas gifts and food in New York!

No matter where you’re at in New York, resources can help you get free Christmas gifts and food. There are some agencies and organizations that might be able to provide help to make your Christmas better. These agencies are national ones, but they operate at a local level. Check with the agency for where to visit in your area.

Salvation Army

The Salvation Army is a great place to start when you’re trying to find free Christmas gifts and food in New York. You might be able to get help through the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program but they may also be able to direct you to other resources. If you have no resources in your area, starting with the Salvation Army is a great way to try to start finding help.

Toys for Tots

The Marines program that helps children who are low-income get toys for free at Christmas, Toys for Tots, is available to families who are eligible and who sign up early enough. You might be able to get help with toys for your child if you sign up through their site. They may not be able to provide specific toys, but they try to match toys to age and gender.

Get free Christmas gifts and food in New York right in your own county! 

Counties are often the best places to find help for free Christmas gifts and food in New York! You might be able to get help through local organizations no matter what county you’re located in.

If you don’t see your county, please leave the county name in the comments below and we’ll add it to our research lists!

Dutchess County

Are you located in Poughkeepsie? Beacon? Hyde Park? You could get help with free Christmas gifts and food. These areas in Dutchess County might be able to help you with free Christmas things for your family!

Erie County

If you’re in Buffalo, Lackawanna or Tonawanda, you might be able to get help with free Christmas gifts and food in New York. The Buffalo area has many resources that can help you. Residents of Depew, East Aurora and Amherst might all qualify for help using the free programs in the county!

Allegany County

Are you a Allegany County resident? You could get help from various local agencies that provide free Christmas gifts and food! There are many options you can use depending on your needs, the age of your children and the things you’re looking for. Allegany County residents and people who are in surrounding Allegany County could qualify for help!

Free Christmas Gifts in Allegany County, New York!

Toys for Tots is an organization that has been around to ensure that children have an enjoyable Christmas for quite a few years; in fact, it originated in 1947. The program is designed to provide children under 12 with gifts. 

For more information about how you can register, you can go to the contacts page, You can email them, or you can give them a call at 719-378-4963.

United Way in Allegany County works with the Salvation Army to provide toys for children of families in need through the Angel Tree program. 

Free Holiday Meal in Allegany County, New York!

The Salvation Army is an organization that many often turn to for assistance with food, clothing, and other essentials that could help those in need. They even give gifts to children who are less fortunate during the holiday season. 

Meals are not only for Christmas; they actually have meals for families who need a warm meal for Thanksgiving as well. The food pantry is usually open Tuesdays through Fridays from 9:30am to 2.30pm. 

Cuba Cultural Center is a community organization that has activities for the community members to enjoy, but they are also a great place to turn if you need assistance with food. They have a gathering place that is designed to provide those in need with a warm meal every Tuesday. There is also a food bank that distributes food on the third Friday of each month; all you need is proof of residence to prove that you live in the area.

Catholic Charities of Steuben is an organization that offers financial help to those in need. They may also help people pay their rent, utilities and medical bills. To help ensure that everyone eats, there are food pantries that you can visit as well.

SUN Wellsville offers a Secret Santa Christmas Day Dinner on Christmas Day for Allegany County residents in need. Hot turkey dinners are delivered on December 25th between 11:00am and 2:00pm. 

For those in need of a hot meal for Christmas, please call 585-593-4834 ext. #1 anything Monday – Friday from 8 am to 2 pm. This program can only take up to 250 families, so it is best to get their as early as you can. 

United Way in Wellsville works with the Salvation Army to provide holiday food boxes for Allegany County families in need through their Holiday Food Boxes program.

Jefferson County

If you’re in Watertown, Fort Drum, or Ellisburg, help is available! Residents in Jefferson County could qualify for help from the agencies throughout the state. There are many organizations in Jefferson County, NY that have programs that could help you with free Christmas gifts and food in New York!

Free Christmas gifts in Jefferson County, NY.

Toys for Tots provides free Christmas gifts in Jefferson County, NY for children of different ages. You must sign up for help from the program by providing information on your income and your housing situation. You may also want to bring along a list of toys and things that your children are interested. There is no guarantee your children will get exactly what they asked for, but it might help the organization make the right choice for toys.

Residents in Jefferson county can either call 315-405-1730 or send Toys for Tots an email to register their children to for toys. You can sign up for Toys from October 1st to Mid-December. During the 2021 Christmas season, 6,612 toy were distributed to 2,300 children. 

The Angel Tree helps families in need get Christmas gifts the toys their children ask for. You will need to apply for the program at the Salvation Army. When you go to the site, you can go to ‘locations’ and find the contact information to the location closest to you. 

You should bring your child’s wish list along with you to put down for the angel tree. There is no guarantee the gifts your child asks for will get donated. With the Adopt-a-Family Program, your whole family could be adopted for the holidays by a generous donor.

Holiday Angels is a program in Watertown that could help you get free Christmas gifts in Jefferson County, NY. The program works by collecting information provided by families about gifts their children want. 

The program does their best to find these toys through donations and provide them to your children during Christmas. If you want to contact them and and follow their activities more closely, you can follow them on the Community Action Planning Council of Jefferson County, Inc. Facebook page. 

New Life Christian Church offers free shopping in Watertown! Each Christmas season, the church sets up a “shopping” center with donations in their lobby. Families are welcome to come shopping for free for gifts for their children. 

The church offers this program each year, but the dates may sometimes change from year to year. If you want to get in touch with them directly, or want to keep up with what they are up to in real time, you can check out the New Life Christian Church Facebook page. 

Free Christmas food in Jefferson County, NY!

The Watertown Urban Mission operates as a food bank throughout the year. The food bank gives out special Christmas meal ingredients during the Christmas season. They may also give families who qualify items for a Thanksgiving meal. You can apply for the program to get help for the holidays. 

The Watertown Urban Mission is also hosting their A Very CARE-ing Christmas for the first time in 2022. The event happens in mid-December and connects Jefferson families in need with local agencies who can help them with services they might need. While parents get information on different programs, children can get photos with Santa, do face painting, and participate in other Christmas themed activities. 

A free hot holiday meal in Jefferson County, NY

The Salavation Army offers their Holiday Meals & Food Baskets to Jefferson County, NY families in need during the holiday season. You can get a food basket full of traditional Christmas food items so you can make a delicious holiday meal, or you are welcome to enjoy a hot meal at one of the Salvation Army centers in Jefferson County, NY.

Monroe County

Monroe County offers help to people in Rochester, Greece, Irondequoit, Perinton and Webster. Help is also available in Henrietta, Brighton, Chili and Gates. Click here if you’re in any of these areas and looking for free Christmas gifts and food in New York!

Niagara Falls

If you’re in Niagara Falls, you might qualify for free programs to help you with Christmas gifts and food. The area offers unique opportunities for low-income families to get the help they’re looking for!

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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.