Donate

Donating Items

At Community Family Life Services, we are often in need of items for our programs and our clients.

Please click on one of the links to the left to find out more about how your donation to CFLS can help the low-income, homeless, and unemployed individuals we serve.

For further questions regarding donations, please send your inquiry to development@cflsdc.org or call 202-347-0511, extension 415.

Event Tickets for CFLS Youth
At CFLS we recognize that low-income youth have few opportunities to go to events on their own. We try to give them oportunities they might otherwise not enjoy. However, we are unable to provide tickets to these events for each of our children.

You can help by donating tickets to plays, sports events, recreational activities, and movies to our children. Also, gift certificates to restaurants and for sweet treats for smaller groups of children would be a wonderful way of rewarding good grades and behavior.

If you are interested in donating tickets so that our youth can participate in these activities, please contact development@cflsdc.org or 202-347-0511.

Donate Clothing and Personal Hygiene Supplies
Clothes are expensive and many of our clients lack the means to buy new clothes and clothes for work. In addition, our clients are in particular need of items like underwear, socks, and shoes. Click on the link above to find out what you can do to help.

If you would like to donate wearable clothing to homeless and low-income individuals, your donation may be brought to 305 E Street in northwest Washington every weekday except Tuesdays between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm. Due to space constraints, we are unable to accept more than two bags of clothing per donor per week.

Currently, our clients are in need of items such as:

  • New underwear
  • Women's Bras
  • Clothes appropriate for job interviews
  • Plus-sized men's and women's clothing
  • New socks
  • Men's undershirts
  • Closed-Toe Shoes
  • Gloves
  • Scarves
  • Winter Hats

In addition, our clients would also greatly appreciate the following:

  • Deodorant
  • Toothpaste
  • Toothbrushes
  • Sanitary Pads
  • Shampoo
  • Conditioner
  • Soap

Click here if you're interested in organizing a clothing drive at your workplace, church, or school.

Donate Food
Community groups, churches, synagogues, and offices are encouraged to hold food drives that can help keep our pantry stocked to ensure that the seniors and low-income families we serve do not have to go without healthy food.

If you are interested in volunteering to help bag the food or to deliver grocery bags to seniors, please click here to learn how to get involved.

What We Need:

  • Canned Meats
  • Tuna
  • Canned Chicken
  • Canned Ham
  • Dry Goods
  • Cereals
  • Pastas
  • Sauces
  • Canned or Bottled Juices

Adopt-a-Family and Give-a-Gift
Community Family Life Services needs your help to make this holiday season a little warmer for the thousands of families and individuals we serve. Think about getting involved in our Adopt-a-Family or Give-a-Gift Programs.

We have over 100 low-income and formerly homeless families in our housing programs who participate in our Adopt-a-Family program. We give individuals and groups the opportunity to adopt a family--asking that the adopting donor help fulfill a wish list for each family. The donor returns the gifts wrapped and labeled for each family member.This is a great way to have a direct impact on the life of a family as you make their budgets more viable at this special time of year.

The Give-a-Gift program coordinates donations of new toys, sports equipment, clothing, books and games to be given to community families in need. The gifts you donate will be delightfully displayed in our "holiday store" for parents to select and bring home to their children. Work with your office, church or neighbors to collect gifts for children 0-18. There's always a special need for gifts for the 10-18 age group. Your gifts will enable someone else to give a gift to a loved one.

To donate toys or adopt a family, please contact volunteer@cflsdc.org for more information or call 202-347-0511. We ask that all gifts be new and in their original packaging, though unwrapped.

General Items For Clients and Programs

Supplies for our programs and our clients are the most significant costs we incur on a general basis. Your support is providing the following items will enable us to put much needed funds more directly towards our programs. Please look through the list below, and if you are interested in donating one or more of the following items, please email development@cflsdc.org.

Office and School Supplies

  • AA / AAA Batteries
  • Tab Divider Sheets
  • File Folders
  • Copier Paper

Supplies for Our Youth Department

  • Construction Paper
  • Glue Sticks
  • Lanyard
  • Graph paper
  • Lined Paper
  • Pencils
  • Dictionaries
  • Uno Cards
  • Back Packs
  • Puzzles
  • Board Games
  • Art Supplies
  • Walkie-Talkies

Supplies for Our Job Training Programs

  • White Button Down Shirts
  • Bandages
  • Rubber Gloves
  • Food Thermometers
  • Cookbooks
  • Knife Sets
  • Metro Cards and Metrobus tokens for transportation to and from interviews

Miscellaneous Supplies

  • Grocery Carts for food delivery
  • Plain Paper Fax Machine
  • Bulletin Board
  • Cars
  • Digital Camera
  • Dishes
  • Silverware
  • Pots and Pans
  • Sheets
  • Towels