The Essentials Drive is HomeAid’s annual community-wide drive to collect diapers and baby wipes for women and children experiencing homelessness. These items are not available for purchase through any government funded assistance program, but are clearly essentials and necessary for any child. The drive, held annually since 2002, is conducted in conjunction with Mother’s Day, providing a great opportunity to help homeless mothers and their babies. Thanks to the support of people like you, this drive has collected over a million essential baby items, assisting hundreds of moms and babies in the metro Atlanta area.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Essentials Drive is online only. We have created shopping lists for each of our individual service provider partners, and the great news is that you can support HomeAid while fulfilling these urgent needs! All you have to do is go to Amazon Smile and choose HomeAid Atlanta as your charity, and Amazon will donate a portion of each purchase to HomeAid.
Your help is needed now, more than ever!
HERE’S HOW TO JOIN THE 2020 ESSENTIALS DRIVE:
1. Click the links below to shop for baby items & more in great need by HomeAid’s partners.
2. After selecting your items and putting them in your cart, visit smile.amazon.com, login to your Amazon account, please select HomeAid Atlanta, Inc. as your charity of choice, then pay for your items. HomeAid Atlanta will receive some support through your gift as well.
3. Be sure to verify that the ship-to address is the Service Provider you chose (and not your personal address). The address may show up in "other addresses."
4. Invite your friends and coworkers to join the Essentials Drive.
Ascensa Health @ St Judes Recovery Center – Atlanta, GA
“Our mission is to provide a behavioral health system of care that sustains recovery and returns individuals to their families and communities.”
Atlanta Children’s Shelter - Atlanta, GA
“To break the cycle of poverty for families facing homelessness by building pathways to long-term self-sufficiency, and providing quality early childhood education.”
Atlanta Dream Center – Atlanta, GA
“In the 21st century, far too many people are trapped in the darkness of sex trafficking and homelessness. Atlanta Dream Center is on the frontlines every day rescuing these individuals and preventing the most vulnerable in society, our children, from falling victim.”
Atlanta Mission – My Sister’s House – Atlanta, GA
“My Sister’s House offers overnight shelter and residential discipleship programs for homeless women, as well as for women with children.”
Ceek to Fulfill – Conyers, GA
“To create an environment where youth and young adults can complete and further their education or be equipped with job readiness employment skills that will lead to gainful employment and financial independence.”
City of Refuge – Atlanta, GA
“City of Refuge is a faith-based environment that helps individuals and families transition out of crisis. Our process takes place under one roof in the most dangerous zip code in Atlanta.”
Clifton Sanctuary Ministries - Atlanta, GA
“Clifton Sanctuary Ministry provides a transformational experience for homeless men through comprehensive life skills training, purposeful and assertive case management, collaborative community partnerships, and dedicated volunteers.”
Additional ways to help Clifton Sanctuary Ministries:
Book or game donations
Dropping off a dinner (it can even be frozen meals) or a monetary donation for food
Make bag lunches at home and drop them off at the shelter
Community Advanced Practice Nurses, Inc. (CAPN) – Atlanta, GA
“Providing healthcare for families, women, and children in need”
Crossroads Community Ministries – Atlanta, GA
“Crossroads Community Ministries seeks to provide access to resources that empower people experiencing homelessness to progress on the road toward economic and personal stability.”
Decatur Cooperative Ministry, Hagar’s House – Decatur, GA
“Our mission at Decatur Cooperative Ministry is to help families facing homelessness settle into safe, stable homes and build healthy lives filled with peace, hope and opportunity.”
The Drake House – Roswell, GA
“The Drake House provides a lifeline of supportive housing and enrichment programs for homeless mothers and their children in north metro Atlanta.”
Additional needs at The Drake House:
$20 Gift Cards to Kroger for fresh meat and dairy and Lyft/Uber Gift Cards for transportation
Family Promise of Hall County – Gainesville, GA
“Mission: equipping a community to end the cycle of family homelessness.”
Forsyth County Family Haven – Cumming, GA
“Forsyth County Family Haven was incorporated in 1989 for the purpose of providing safe temporary shelter, individual crisis support and referral services for victims of violence.”
Haven ATL – Atlanta, GA
“Haven Atlanta is dedicated to serving women who have fallen victim to commercial sexual exploitation in the Metro Atlanta area through prevention, education, case management, and outreach.”
Helping Mamas – Norcross, GA
“The mission of Helping Mamas is to connect helping mamas to mamas needing help. We are the baby supply bank for Georgia.”
House of Dawn – Jonesboro, GA
“Our Mission is to 1) provide a stable, loving, home for young mothers and their children under adult supervision and 2) to provide young mothers with the educational opportunities and the life training skills that they will need to become independent, self-supporting women.”
North Georgia Angel House - Canton, GA
"Our mission includes giving children a place to call home and the skills they need when they age out of the Foster Care system. We are home to more than 1,000 girls and growing stronger by the day."
Our House – Atlanta, GA
“At Our House, we are on a mission to end the cycle of homelessness for families. We provide shelter for families experiencing homelessness to live. We provide education for children experiencing homelessness to thrive.”
Phoenix Pass – Conyers, GA
“Phoenix Pass serves the needs of women and their children experiencing temporary homelessness by giving them an opportunity to reestablish self-sufficiency in a residential setting.”
Rainbow Village Early Childhood Development Center – Duluth, GA
“Rainbow Village’s Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) mitigates the overwhelming economic burden childcare causes to working adults with children.”
Salvation Army- Red Shield Services – Atlanta, GA
“The purpose of The Salvation Army Metro Atlanta Red Shield Services Emergency and Transitional Housing Facility (Red Shield Shelter) is to provide strategic intervention, refuge and safe lodging for homeless men, women and families with children in crisis.”
Solomon’s Temple – Atlanta, GA
“Solomon’s Temple is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the eradication of homelessness by empowering women and their children to overcome life’s challenges, realize their potential, define their own destiny and become vital factors in the revitalization and sustainability of their community. Previously known as Springdale Place and operated by Fulton County, Solomon’s Temple offers 130 residential rooms for homeless women and their children.”
Wellroot Family Services – Tucker, GA
“Home is a special place. Not just a roof over our head, but a safe, secure, loving environment shared with those we care about most. It might be easy to take this concept for granted, but there are thousands of children and young adults in the foster care system of Georgia who don’t know what a stable home feels like. As an agency of The United Methodist Church in North Georgia, Wellroot Family Services’ programs, Foster Care, Transitional and Independent Living and Family Housing, were designed to change this reality through faith-centered service.”
Testimonials:
“THANK YOU for the amazing items donated to Decatur Cooperative Ministry as part of this year’s Essentials Donation Drive! Year after year, HomeAid Atlanta and its supporters have continued to surpass our expectations and we consider you to be one of our greatest allies in the fight to alleviate homelessness in metro-Atlanta.” - Marlene White, M. Ed, Executive Director, Decatur Cooperative Ministries
“Wow, thank you for the incredible donation delivery today! We really appreciate the work that went into making this donation possible, and the generosity of all of the donors who support HomeAid. These gifts will go a long way in support of the clients that we serve.” – Brian Hengesbaugh, Director of Development and Strategic Initiatives, CAPN Clinics - Community Advanced Practice Nurses, Inc.
Questions? Please contact Karen McLane, Director of Community Outreach at karen@homeaidatlanta.org or 678.775.1450.
Click the button below for an Essentials Drive & More flyer and other resources.
Learn more! Shareable Flyer Essentials How-To PDF
