Giving change to people on the street usually only helps keep them there by feeding addictions and preventing them from seeking the help they need. Instead, we encourage you to make donations to the organizations below that provide real help to people who are homeless, by providing shelter, food, medical service, drug and alcohol treatment, and job training.

Project Home

Project H.O.M.E. (Housing, Opportunities for Employment, Medical Care, Education) empowers people to break the cycle of homelessness, address the structural causes of poverty, and attain their fullest potential as members of society by providing permanent housing, job training, education and health care.

Mary Howard Health Center

The Mary Howard Health Center (MHHC) is part of The Health Care for the Homeless Project run by Public Health Management Corporation. MHHC is a nurse-managed, comprehensive primary health care center for homeless people that provides care to a transient population with limited support systems. The project collaborates with the Philadelphia Department of Health to address the special health risks associated with life on the street and in shelters. Services include primary care, family planning, assistance with benefits, and physical exams.

SELF, Inc.

SELF, Inc. is a minority, non-profit organization that provides services that enable homeless and behaviorally challenged individuals to achieve self-sufficiency by developing strength of character and economic independence. SELF, Inc. has provided residential, treatment, case management, and support services for over 20 years in four full-service shelters; in Safe Haven housing for homeless families with mental illness; in transitional and recovery housing programs to facilitate movement toward self-sufficiency; at a licensed outpatient drug and alcohol clinic; and on the street where the Peer Outreach Team provides outreach and counseling. Donations can be sent to SELF, Inc., 1425 Arch Street, 3rd Floor; Philadelphia, PA 19102; Attn: Nathaniel Robinson.

Bethesda Project

Bethesda Project is an interfaith community which strives to be the premier provider of housing and services to the homeless in Philadelphia. Bethesda Project provides shelter, food, housing and supportive services to men and women who are homeless.

Ready Willing and Able

Ready, Willing & Able is The Doe Fund's holistic, residential, work and job skills training program which empowers, employs and supports homeless individuals in their efforts to become self-sufficient, contributing members of society. The program targets the segment of the homeless population considered the hardest to serve: single, able-bodied adults, the majority of whom have histories of incarceration and substance abuse. To be accepted into the program, applicants must be ready, willing and able, both physically and mentally, to work and maintain a drug-free lifestyle.

Horizon House

Horizon House provides community-based mental health treatment and rehabilitation services, utilizing a holistic approach to address an individual's psychiatric, medical and behavioral health impediments. The overarching goal of Horizon House's interventions is to support, to the fullest extent possible, the individual's active membership in his or her family and community.

Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania

The Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania (MHASP) is an advocacy, service and education association founded to help improve the lives of people with mental illnesses. MHASP is a nonprofit citizen's organization that serves adults, children and family members through their programs and advocacy efforts.

Center City District Foundation

The Center City District Foundation is the charitable arm of the Center City District (CCD). A specially trained group of Community Service Representatives encourage and assist people who are homeless in coming off the street and into appropriate facilities where they can find shelter and necessary social services. The foundation also supports job opportunities for disadvantaged workers as well as the Philadelphia Community Court, an innovative, problem-solving court that assists defendants who are homeless and accused of quality-of-life crimes through on-site social services and a program of supervised community sentences.