Did you know that a third of the people YWCA serves are men? Help dads in our emergency shelter programs feel celebrated this Father's Day by donating high-quality, full-sized personal care products to our collection drive!
Our collection drive runs now through Father’s Day. Donations can be dropped off from May 18 – June 12, 2026 at our Phillis Wheatley Office, located at: 2820 E Cherry St. Seattle, WA 98122 between the hours of 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Or, you can use our Amazon wish list to have your donations shipped directly to us.
What to donate:
● Sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner
● All-natural body lotions (sulfate and paraben-free)
● Full-sized deodorants
● Full-sized soap bars
● Razors and shaving cream or gels
● Men’s shaving travel bag
● Microfiber cloths
● Nail clippers
If you or your organization would like to hold a Father's Day drive, you can sign up here. Please send any questions to Lori Bugaj at: lbugaj@ywcaworks.org
Often our families arrive with very few items to help make their new apartment a home. There are currently a large number of families moving into our programs and we have a new 45 bed shelter opening in Edmonds to serve homeless women and men. Please help them by filling a laundry basket, reusable grocery bag or storage bin with these much-needed items:
● Twin sheet sets
● Twin or Full blankets and comforters
● Towels / Towel sets
● Pots and pans
● Silverware and utensils
● Cleaning supplies (paper towels, sponges, unopened cleaning products)
This is an ongoing need for our programs. Donations can be dropped off at our Phillis Wheatley Office, located at 2820 E Cherry St. Seattle, WA 98122 between the hours of 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM.
Household items needed can also be found on our Amazon wish list.
Summer is here and the kids in our programs are looking for things to do. Please consider donating the following types of items to help keep the kids busy and engaged this summer:
● Sports balls – basketballs, footballs, baseballs, volley, soccer and tennis balls. Please NO bats.
● Arts and craft kits and supplies
● Tickets or passes to games, events and attractions
● Water fun – water bottles, sunscreen, beach balls, beach towels and sand toys
● $25 Gas gift cards – for families to go and enjoy the outdoors
Items for our Children’s Programs can also be found on our Amazon wish list.
Thank You to everyone who provided full-sized personal care items for our Mother’s Day Drive. With special help from SmartSheet, Amazon, Kalos Church, BCLP Law, and many individual donors, we were able to make 493 Mother’s Day bags for the women in our shelters. Thank you for providing items to help make all of our moms feel special and beautiful!
For individuals and/or organization who want to host a drive for YWCA, we now have a “Host a Drive” sign up form on our Volunteer page where you can sign up to host the drive of your choice. We’ll send you a list of the items we need along with a link to our Amazon wishlist and instructions.
When you host a drive for YWCA, your donation directly impacts the lives of the women and families in our emergency housing programs. Every donation helps a family feel more welcome in their home and fills a genuine need. Look below and select a category to see what is needed, then fill out our “Host a Drive” form above and we will contact you with more information.
Full-sized personal care products for families in our programs. We especially need items that are ethnically diverse and focus on Black/African American women (e.g., sulfate-free, paraben-free, moisturizing). We will accept some travel-sized items for our homeless women’s shelter but prefer full-sized items that are more eco-friendly and can be used by a family.
Shop our Personal Care/Hygiene wish list here!
- Shampoo – sulfate-free, paraben-free
- Leave-in conditioners and moisturizers
- Body wash & bar soap
- Body lotion
- Combs and brushes
- Women’s and men’s deodorant
- Combing and curl cremes
- Scalp and hair oils and butters
- Edge control gels and hair tools
- Satin-lined bonnets, headbands & pillowcases
- Razors & shaving gels/cremes
- Toothbrushes & toothpaste
- Personal care tools – nail clippers, tweezers
- Feminine hygiene products
- First aid kits and Band-Aids
Families come into our programs needing the most basic household items. We use your donations to furnish units and create a warm, welcoming space where families can thrive. We accept new and gently used items, but please no stains, tears, broken or non-working items.
Shop our Kitchen and Household wish list here!
- Twin/full sheet sets, bedspreads, comforters & blankets
- Towels – bath & kitchen
- Flatware
- Mugs, glasses, dishes & bowls
- Can openers & kitchen utensils
- Pots, pans & baking sheets
- Small appliances – microwaves, toasters & coffee pots
- Lamps, small trashcans & laundry baskets
- Cutting boards & mixing bowls
It takes a lot of paper products, cleaning supplies, and tools to keep a home clean. You can help our families by filling a laundry basket or storage bin with items to help keep their units tidy and comfortable. For cleaning supplies, we ask for new or almost new items.
Shop our Cleaning and Paper Products wish list here!
- Toilet paper
- Paper towels
- Laundry detergent, laundry baskets & clothes drying racks
- Dish soap & hand soap
- Sponges, gloves & cleaning cloths
- Mops, brooms, dustpans & buckets
- Kitchen and bath trashcans & garbage bags
- Cleaning products – disinfectants, window, bleach
- Toilet brush & plunger
- Small vacuums
YWCA Central Area Food Bank provides weekly bags of food to 325+ food-insecure households in Central & South Seattle, and the need continues to grow. Every Wednesday, 80+ volunteers pack and distribute over 6,000 lbs. of food. Much of our food comes from institutional and government donors like Food Lifeline, NW Harvest, and the USDA. We also rely heavily on our community for assistance – for both food and volunteers.
Please, no expired foods, opened containers, or glass jars.
Link to our food needs here!
- $25 and $50 gift cards to Safeway, Kroger/Fred Meyer, or Grocery Outlet
- Canned soup, stew & chili
- White rice
- Tuna and canned chicken
- Top ramen, pasta & canned pasta sauce
- Crackers & kid-friendly snacks
- Peanut butter, jelly, syrup & honey
- Condiments – ketchup, mayo & mustard
- Cooking oil
- Soy sauce
- Salt & pepper sets
- Sugar
- Seasonings, spices and herbs
- Ground, caffeinated coffee
- Can openers & pop-top foods for unhoused clients
YWCA provides after-school and summer programs for children in our emergency shelters as well as Passage Point, our supportive housing program for post-incarcerated individuals re-unifying with their children. We also offer Parent Child+, which is an educational home-visiting program for families with very young children. We are hoping to create memorable, interactive events for these children and increase access to opportunities they might otherwise not be able to participate in or experience.
Please, no baseball bats or play weapons.
Shop our Children’s Program wish list here!
- Tickets/entrance to events, museums, attractions & activities
- Arts & crafts kits/supplies
- Sports balls & small sports equipment
- Water fun – swimwear, beach towels & toys, sunscreen
- Movie tickets & gift cards
- Outdoor games
- Bike locks & new helmets
YWCA celebrates each Spring with goodie-filled bags/baskets for children and Mother’s Day tote bags filled with full-sized personal care products for women in our programs.
Shop our Spring Goodie Bag/Basket wish list here!
- Reusable bag or bucket
- Chocolate bunny
- Few pieces of candy
- Small toys or stuffed animal
- Art supplies – crayons or markers, coloring/activity books
- Learning games
Shop our Mother’s Day tote bag wish list here!
- Reusable tote bag
- Shampoo & conditioner
- Lotion
- Body wash/bar soap
- Deodorant, razor & shave gel
- Comb or brush
- Beauty products – eye mask, lip balm, hair bands
- Beauty tool – nail clippers or nail file
- Journal & pen
When school is out, the kids in our programs are looking for things to do. Please consider donating the following types of items to help keep kids busy and engaged this summer:
Shop our Children’s Program wish list here!
- $25 gas gift cards – For families to go and enjoy the outdoors
- Sports balls & equipment – Basketballs, footballs, baseballs, volley, soccer & tennis balls (Please NO baseball bats).
- Arts & craft kits/supplies
- Tickets or passes to games, events & attractions
- Water fun – Sunscreen, beach balls, beach towels & sand toys
As summer ends, families frantically shop for backpacks, school supplies, and new clothing as their students prepare to return to school. For families living in our YWCA emergency shelters, the needs are the same but getting these items is much more difficult.
YWCA is collecting donations and Fred Meyer/Kroger, Walmart, or Target gift cards to support the elementary, middle, and high school students in our programs across King and Snohomish counties.
And the need isn’t just in September —families move into emergency housing and out to more permanent supportive housing throughout the year, which means the start at a new school for some students is after school officially begins.
Shop our Back-to-School wish list here!
- $100 gift cards - to Target, Walmart & Fred Meyer/Kroger so that kids can pick out exactly the backpack they want and the supplies they need.
- Backpacks - 15" - 17" sizes
- Pencil pouch
- Pink Pearl erasers
- Glue sticks
- Pencil sharpeners
- 12-pack #2 pencils
- 24-pack crayons
- 12-pack colored pencils
- Rulers
- Wide-ruled spiral notebooks
- 5" blunt (kid) scissors
- Lined paper 3-hole punch
- Pocket folders
- Dry erase markers
- Sharpie permanent markers
To celebrate Thanksgiving and the Winter holidays, YWCA provides families in our Emergency Shelters grocery gift cards so families can celebrate with their own traditional dishes and foods they love, and store gift cards for each child, letting families experience the joy of choosing special gifts for their children.
When you host a drive for gift cards, we ask donors to write the amount of the gift card on the physical card itself. We can also provide you with physical or electronic gift card donation forms for individuals to fill out when they drop off their gift card donations to you.
Thanksgiving and Holiday gift cards
- Target gift cards - from $25 to $150
- Walmart gift cards - from $25 to $150
- Safeway/Albertson’s gift cards - from $25 to $150
- Fred Meyer/Kroger gift cards - from $25 to $150
Winters are especially cold and damp in our area when you can’t afford the right kind of outerwear. We especially need women’s items for our Angeline’s Day Shelter for Women but can also use men’s and children’s items for families in our programs.
Gently used items with no rips or stains are welcome.
Shop our Winter Warmth wish list here!
- Women’s, men’s & kid’s winter coats
- Adult & kid’s gloves
- Women’s, men’s & kid’s warm socks
- Adult & kid’s winter hats
- Scarves
- Hand & toe warmers
- Warm polar fleece or emergency blankets
- Boots & winter weather shoes
- Lotion, lip balms & tissue packs
- Weather-resistant tote & cinch bags
