Churches and faith-based organizations often provide emergency assistance to individuals in the immediate area. Help may include a small amount of money to help with rent, utility bills, transportation, or temporary lodging. Some churches also give out free items, including clothes, food or meals from a food pantry or they help shelter homeless people. Below you will find details on the types of assistance churches may provide, what to expect when asking for help, and how to find church-based programs in your area.

Note any assistance from a church is typically local and limited in scope. Each congregation decides what services it can offer based on donations from the public or local businesses, volunteers, and other factors, such as the season. While funding is not guaranteed due to those constraints, churches frequently focus on helping people stabilize during a crisis and/or connecting them with additional resources when needed.

Faith-based groups often assist people regardless of religion, background, or immigration status. Support may be available to people of Catholic, Protestant, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, LDS, Jewish, and other religious organizations, and most churches help people regardless of the applicant’s faith. The type of help offered, eligibility rules, and application process vary by location with the main categories of help as follows.

National church groups that provide help in most areas
Financial help from a church
Free items from a church - such as food, clothes and more
Churches have limited resources to help people
Churches listed by area

If you need additional information or tips on getting help from a local and it is not listed below, send us an email at [email protected]. Include your email address, county and state. It is needed to send a reply to your request in order to direct you to assistance to a nearby church. Or use the search box / page to look for a church. As another alternative you can visit or register in the community forum dedicated to how to get help from a church. You can read about real experiences from people across the country, find tips from those users and so much more in the forum.

National churches with a local presence that help struggling families or people

One of the leading faith based organizations is Catholic Charities. The local churches that are part of this charity will assist qualified individuals regardless of their religion, faith, age, immigration status or culture. Some locations will offer try to small dollar amounts of emergency financial assistance and others provide basic needs, such as free clothes, free furniture or food to feed the area. The churches, while based on funding in the parish, also help immigrants or refugees, including undocumented ones with more details here on getting help from Catholic Charity assistance programs.

The national St. Vincent De Paul partnership of churches and its volunteers, known as Vincentians, may be able to offer emergency assistance as well. There are also numerous Catholic parishes and faith based groups that work with this charity. While funding levels vary widely based on parish donation levels, they help struggling families, including seniors and the disabled, with paying many types of bills. There are also free or low cost items from a SVDP thrift store which most Saint Vincent parishes have, as details on the Saint Vincent de Paul financial assistance programs page.

The nation’s largest Christian church group is the Salvation Army. This Christian, faith based organization supports people of all religions, genders and backgrounds, though what is offered in each local area varies. The social services offered are extensive and can range from free emergency food or hardship funds to pay rent or light bills to free Christmas gifts, school items, a shelter for the homeless and the Angel Tree program. There is also faith based substance abuse treatment services as well as supportive housing for the elderly as the Salvation Army programs for struggling people are localized from the 7,000 plus locations.

Church ministries, with coverage in most local communities, operate in partnership with Love INC, also known as Love in the Name of Christ. The organization provides social services to the working poor through what are known as Clearinghouses. Some offer direct financial help (though limited) while most Love INCs will have emergency shelters for the unhoused, free groceries, diapers, furniture, or seasonal Christmas celebrations. Learn more about the Love INC assistance programs.

Social services are available from United Methodist Church, or UMC. The organization is involved in fighting poverty and offering short term relief to families, including money to pay back rent or housing costs as well as grants to pay utility bills. Assistance, when the UMC church has funding and people are qualified, may include hunger prevention programs such as free boxes of groceries or meals. UMC also provides basic needs in many communities such as school supplies, Christmas gifts or free winter jackets for children, often in partnership with other local non-profits. Most of the support and the help from a local UMC church, is unique to that area.

Episcopal Church has a number of poverty fighting programs. The ministries, while coordinated at the national level but have local community application processes, have churches in many communities across the county. Whether access to health care, hunger prevention programs or affordable housing, find more details on help from an Episcopal Church.

Regardless of faith, gender or age, Jewish Family Services will provide support in a local area though the coverage area is more limited. A major focus of this charity organization as well as its local synagogues is to help the elderly, families with young kids and disabled, however other people can get help. They can provide meals on wheels, help address employment issues and give interest free loans or grants to pay bills among the other programs from Jewish Family Services in your area. Note a major focus is also on helping people gain long term stability, including employment and budgeting help.

While not in every state, National Church Residences provides housing and low-cost apartments to low-income families. Most of the rental units are for senior citizens, single moms as well as their kid(s), or people with a disability. Some of the housing from this faith based group is free while others is income based, with emergency motel vouchers also provided to seniors. Note of course the demand often exceeds supply, and income criteria are in place, but look here to learn more on National Church Residences and their housing programs.

Lutheran Social Services, or LSC, is a nationwide faith based group that not only helps people that go to Lutheran churches but their social services are for others in need as well. Whether financial help for rent or utilities, or a car repair or clothes or something else, they help people of all ages and backgrounds as indicated here on how to get help from Lutheran Services.

How local churches provide financial help with basic needs

While of course funding levels vary, resources are limited, and there are local application processes in place, most of the faith based aid falls into several categories. As churches do try to help people with basic needs, including around housing costs (rent, electric bills, etc.), food, medical, and also support for the homeless too. While the funding to is usually very limited, the bottom line is a local church near can usually provide some form of short term, emergency help. They will rarely, if ever, turn anyone away that is truly struggling.

Many churches help with emergency housing needs. They may have funds to contribute towards paying rent and help prevent evictions. A local faith based group is also generally part of wider homeless prevention organizations that arrange immediate help as part of local emergency rent assistance programs.

Help with utilities is often arranged by a church. A focus will always be on stopping homelessness, and losing power can lead to evictions - homelessness. Churches try to keep people in their home so they are not on the streets or living in a shelter. When they can, many may have a few dollars to help with utility costs, whether it is a light bill or maybe a heating or gas bill for a senior citizens, as noted on guide of options for electric bill help.

A church will help someone with little or no money, such as a homeless person, a person fleeing an abusive situation or someone facing a financial hardship (extended loss of job, illness, etc.). They help the person or family find resources for the crisis and support them as they get back on track. Whether help for bills, rental or housing costs and other assistance is arranged by a church to someone with zero money, food as well as clothes as the goal is to arrange assistance when you have zero money.

Churches and benevolence ministry leaders are eager to provide care to the less fortunate that also address long term needs. Some churches partner with debt counseling programs, many of which are faith based. Parishes also try to help tackle the root cause of poverty, and as part of this will be programs to help people pay off debt and get their finances in order.

A local church is also a great place to turn to for referrals, tips and community wide information. Often a faith based group, and the members of a parish, can tell people where to get assistance for bills or housing from other organization. They can direct you to charities, community action agencies, state as well as local government programs, and more. Volunteers, or the staff, may know of local food drives or be aware of charities that have money available for paying rent or energy bills as so much more - as faith based groups are often tied into the regional support networks.

Christians can also enroll into low cost health or dental insurance plans. A number of churches partner with local or national ministries to offer this form of financial assistance to families, no matter their income or age. The policies are part of a sharing concept, which means all member premiums go towards paying the excessive medical bills of the patients or they cover prescription medications. As access to medical care is another focus on many parishes so they can show people how to apply to low cost Christian health insurance.

Churches often arrange free resources, including food, clothes and more

Meals, soup kitchens, free food, and other hunger prevention resources are often provided by churches, based on local donation levels. In fact, this tends to be the most common type of help from a faith based group. This is part of hunger prevention in local communities for low-income families. The support, including groceries, is often available at a food pantry that a local church may operate with more details on our page of how food pantries and food banks help.

Free transportation programs from a church help the poor, people who need a car for work, single moms or dads and others. There will generally be an auto dealership that gives out free vehicles (in partnership with a church) or a volunteer mechanic that works with a local church that fixes a car. But free or used autos are offered in very limited cases, and look here for free cars near you.

A church will often try to help pay for gas or car repairs or have the work done for free. This is for people who are faced with a crisis and have little to no money, then your local church may be a resource. Local mechanics may volunteer their time to work on an automobile to fix it, and therefore the labor may be free, and local gasoline station owners (or the corporate owners) will try to help coordinate support to people in a parish, with more details about car repairs and gasoline from churches.

Many churches provide holiday help, whether Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist or any religion. Churches may offer their own assistance and they partner with other local groups too, including with seasonal items such as free Christmas assistance programs from charities as people, and religious groups of all faiths, try to share the holiday spirit - no matter the faith,

Faith based charities, including Christian churches and LDS organizations, provides counseling, including for addiction as well as health needs. Churches also help people with substance abuses challenges. There are free rehab centers for alcohol or drug addicts or other addictions. Some rehabilitation programs are free, others may have a low cost or be subsidized, but free substance abuse programs can be available in some communities too.

Applying for limited emergency assistance from churches

Unfortunately, churches often just do not have the funding to assist everyone that needs it. While this will vary by state, as well as the application process, many parishes, whether Jewish, Mormon - LDS, Christian organizations that help struggling people or another faith try their best to meet demand. So when applying for financial help from a church, be sure it is a one time event as they focus on solving a crisis. A church will often ask for proof before issuing funds. They also tend to give priority to senior citizens, the ill, and vulnerable.

Churches try to offer short term, temporary emergency help to those that are qualified, however direct cash assistance also tends to be variable - based on location and needs. They went to help pay a little bit of rent or give food, or give a motel room, on an emergency basis as a “hand up”, and not a “hand out”. Families applying to a church generally cannot be dependent on the assistance.

Typically, applications from a church require candidates to provide documentation showing they have a financial crisis or true short term emergency condition. This may include a copy of the lease showing the amount of rent that is due, a pay stub, an unpaid utility bill, or driver’s license to verify their address.

Local church assistance programs

Any help from a church is provided locally, not through a single national application. Each church decides what help it can offer in a community based on donations, funding levels and needs of the area as well as the individual applicant. Start with our 3-step success strategy on how to apply for help. The locations listed below include more information on churches and faith-based organizations known to offer assistance in their communities.

Alameda County and Oakland

Allegheny County

Atlanta area

Austin and Travis County

Birmingham

Broward County

Buffalo and Erie County