Get FREE Christmas Toys & Food in Kentucky!

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. Fortunately, there are agencies that can help!

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Although we’ve written about the five primary agencies that assist with Christmas across the United States, there are countless smaller, local agencies that also assist with this desperate need. Some offer free gifts, while others offer free holiday meals.

If you don’t see your city/county listed below, leave us a comment and let us know!

There are many people and organizations working to provide free Christmas gifts in Kentucky. These agencies operate on a local level and can only be found by investigating what exists in your local community. We’re doing that research for you, one county at a time!

If you don’t see your county on this list, please leave a comment and let me know. This series is written entirely by reader request so we don’t start working on a new area until we receive a request for it.

Here’s what we’ve researched so far:

Green County

Greensburg, Summersville and a few small communities can be found in Green County. If you live in this area, you can visit the list below to see what we’ve found for you this holiday season.:

Toy Assistance:

The Salvation Army offers the Angel Tree program to families in need of help during the holiday season. Families receive toys for their children, donated by community members, one week before Christmas.

Toys For Tots sets up donation boxes and holds annual toy drives every year to give less fortunate children gifts during the holidays. Children receive their toys in mid- December, giving every child something to open on Christmas morning. In 2021, the Toys for Tots program in this area distributed 19,979 toys to 5,982 children.

Food Assistance:

God’s Food Pantry offers a monthly food distribution to underserved counties such as Green County and 12 other counties in Kentucky. They deliver food using a refrigerated delivery truck and distribute the food at 14 different locations. Families are able to get free Christmas and Thanksgiving baskets of food during the holidays.

Harlan County

In addition to the usual list of free Christmas gifts and food, we’ve also found some free Christmas activities for families in Harlan County! Be sure to warm up with some free cocoa and candy canes at Harlan County’s free light display – and check out this list for free Christmas gift distributors in your area.

Kenton County

If you live in Covington, Independence, Erlanger, Edgewood, Elsemere, Fort Mitchell or another area, then you can find help for your holidays on this list! 

Lexington County

Need holiday help in Lexington? You’re not alone! We’ve received many requests for help in this area, so we’ve created a handy list. You can find it here.

Logan County

Residents of Russellville, Auburn, Adairville and other nearby areas can receive assistance from these Logan County resources! The following agencies can assist you with free Christmas gifts and, food!

Toy Assistance: 

Logan County Schools offer Christmas help every year with their Christmas Assistance Program. The Family Resources Youth Services Center (FRYSC) works with Logan County schools to make Christmas special for every qualifying school-aged child. Eligible children from Preschool to High School can participate in the program. 

Each school sends home a registration form to sign and return to the school by the deadline. The deadline for the 2022 Christmas season is November 4th. The form will look like this one posted on the Lewisburg KY FRYSC Facebook page. 

Toys For Tots uses donation boxes and holds annual toy drives to collect and distribute toys to children of low-income families in many counties in Southern KY, including Logan County. Toys get delivered to families one week before Christmas, giving every child something to open on Christmas morning. 77,623 toys were distributed to 10,998 children during Christmas in 2021. If you need toy assistance, make sure to register on this site to reserve a spot for your child. 

Concerned Citizens of Logan County offer assistance for struggling Logan County families in need during the Christmas holiday. They have a program that can help parents provide toys for their kids. You can follow their Facebook page to stay up to date about all the programs they have to offer. 

Food Assistance: 

Cooperating Ministry of Logan County offers their Christmas Basket Program, where they give Christmas Food Baskets to Logan County families in need. You can usually sign up for this program through the end of November. They were not able to do this program last year due to renovations, but they should be back up and running this year. Just in case, though, you can call them at 970-522-6405 to make sure. You can also follow their Facebook page to get up to date information on their programs.

Perry County

If you live in Hazard, Daisy, Cornettsville, Jeff, Vicco, or the surrounding areas of Perry County, we’ve found resources that can help your family with free Christmas gifts and food this holiday season!

Toy Assistance: 

Join Hands Ministry Christmas Program offers Perry County children Christmas gifts if they are between the ages of 6 months and 14 years old. Supported by local businesses, organizations, churches, and generous individual donors, 855 kids from 332 Perry County families were helped in 2020. The program is back in 2022 and they are asking that all assistance applications be completed by October 31, 2022. 

Christmas Appalachian Project (CAP) invites families to take part in their Christmas Baskets program. Hundreds of toys are sent to countries in Kentucky, including Perry County, and in the weeks before Christmas, families are invited to gather for a Christmas celebration. Here, among the music, prayers, Christmas story retellings, and fun, gifts are handed out to families in need. 

Perry County’s Christmas in a Small Town is a Christmas festival and a series of events put on by Perry County to spread Christmas cheer and provide a memorable Christmas for local families. The series of events starts in the second week of December and includes Ice skating and a lighted Christmas Parade. Children aged 13 years old and younger also get one present to take back home. This is a 3-day event starting on Thursday and ending on Saturday (December 8-10, 2022). Children receive presents on Friday and the parade is on Saturday. 

The Salvation Army offers the Angel Tree program for low-income families that cannot afford to buy their children gifts during the holiday season. Families get connected to community members who buy items they requested on their wish lists and receive them just before Christmas day.

Food Assistance:

Perry County’s Christmas in a Small Town collects non-perishable food items during their 3-day festival and donates it to families in need during the holiday season.

Join Hands Ministry has a list of local food banks in the Perry County area that provide food a few days a week. Each of these food bank locations does something special during Christmas, although most of their specific activities aren’t listed online. Numbers, emails, and addresses are provided for each food bank program so you can easily contact the one closest to your area. 

The Salvation Army offers a food pantry giving out free bags of groceries and holiday dinner boxes and a soup kitchen serving hot meals daily and special hot holiday meals on Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Wayne County

If you’re a Wayne County resident who needs a little help this holiday season, then you’ve come to the right place! Here’s a list of Wayne County agencies that can help you.

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Nicole Thelin

Nicole leads the Low Income Relief team with over 20 years of professional research and writing experience. 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, eHow, Livestrong, Legal Beagle, The Daily Herald, The Chronicle and more.