Red Cross Rent Assistance: Fill & Download for Free

The American Red Cross can sometimes help. I also found this article helpful:HELP PAYING BILLS/RENT/MEDICAL/UTILITIES/FOOD/DIAPERS AND MOREI'm sorry for what your family is going through. You personally may not be able to fix everything but do what you can to help. I don't want to judge your situation at all, but if there is any way to get an additional job or cut back on luxuries you need to do that. I can't imagine what you are going through. Take care.

Edit: I wrote so much I forgot to comment about your specific concerns. I also think it's wrong for them to send the best things to the richest neighborhoods where people thrift because they think it's cool or eclectic as opposed to NEEDING to. One way they could really help is to provide 25–75% discounts on inventory for those carrying a welfare card. We were lucky to have a nice kitchen table donated to us by friends moving. Previously we tried to get one from goodwill but couldn't afford the $40 they wanted for it. May seem dirt cheap to some but to us, that was a major expense. Heck, my bedroom door has been broken off in pieces (cheap hollow one with cardboard snake holding halves together) for 6 months because we can't afford the $25 to replace it.As for employment, a great portion of the disabled can't work at ALL no matter how much they would love to, so them employing the disabled doesn't help much either. If a disabled person CAN work, they will get much better pay and benefits from a grocery store or Walmart, both hire the disabled at higher rates than most companies that I've seen.Original answer:The SHORT answer: They help by providing low cost clothing, accessories, shoes, coats and furnishings.Here's the LONG answer if you're truly interested:Ive been battling a yet to be diagnosed illness for 10 years. Doctors are baffled. It's progressively getting worse and they can't treat me until they know what's causing it. Then in December I also got ovarian cancer. It's cured, thankfully, but I had to stop working. I just couldn't do it anymore it was literally killing me.We were living paycheck to paycheck BEFORE I had to stop working. Now our family of three is living in full blown poverty.Disability denied me, a person who spends 20–24 hours a day in bed and an appeal is two years away…2 YEARS of my family trying to survive with me having ZERO dollars income.The ONLY help I qualify for, because I don't have bio kids which is a requirement for cash assistance in my state - but I DO have a child living with me, my “stepson” still costs money, eats my food but he doesn't count, the ONLY help I qualify for through the state is $157 a MONTH in food stamps for 3 people (just cut and about to be cut AGAIN by Trump). Food stamps that I get JUDGED for using, Food stamps that people think they have a right to tell me what to buy using them. Taxes for food stamps that I paid into MY ENTIRE adult life. But that's not my point.my point is the only help I get is food.I called EVERY CHARITY….catholic charities only give money to the elderly, the Red Cross..just disasters, the Salvation Army nada, toys for tots? My stepson is 14, video games are his life, but toys for tots do not provide gifts for kids over 12 yo. I quickly and sadly learned…NO CHARITY gives money to help disabled poor people pay their bills. Everyone ASSUMES if you're disabled you get money from disability. But the reality is, EIGHTY, that's right, 80% of SSDI/SSI applicants are DENIED the first time they apply. And then they have to wait YEARS for an appeal. And then they could lose AGAIN and have to wait another YEAR or more for a second appeal! I was forced to swallow the last bit of my pride and BEG family and friends for help by creating a youcaring donation campaign….which, almost a year later, has only raised half of ONE months rent. So that wasn't a viable option either for those of you who are libertarian that continue to suggest family should care for the sick and disabled. Not everyone has the support for this kind of need. Not everyone has friends and family who are able to give.My point is, poor people, ESPECIALLY those that cannot work, NEED MONEY. Not food, not things. We have access to food and clothes. We can easily get clothes, furnishings, whatever at goodwill or Salvation Army stores. Food doesn't buy toilet paper, soap and shampoo. Food doesn't help with rent to keep us from becoming homeless. Once you become homeless it's 10x harder to get back to living independently. Our nation should be investing in keeping the poor from becoming homeless instead of JUST focusing on helping those who already are (but I'm grateful they at least DO help the homeless).What the disabled poor need is a government that DOESNT deny sick people disability payments over arbitrary reasoning in an effort to avoid paying them. And if you're denied you should get an appeal within weeks or months not YEARS.Look, I'm all for if you're ABLE to work, earning you're own income and not taking handouts. But when you are too sick and/or disabled to work, you're absolutely screwed in the USA.Ok I'm getting off my soapbox now lol!if you actually read all of this, I truly appreciate it.

The food (OMG, the food!) is at least 60% cheaper, is less saturated with chemicals, is picked ripe not green, and makes it from the field to the market in one or two days max. The meat is superb and not loaded with antibiotics…I pay less than $20 US for a 10 inch long fillet mignon…hamburger is about $2.00 US per pound and is mainly lean sirloin. There is hardly a chicken here that is not free range. Fresh fruit and veggies arrive all year round from north and south of the border, but the best of the crops are from Mexico, arriving seasonally in abundance and at an astonishingly low price. Local mangos and avocados (7 native varieties plus Haas) regularly appear on the sidewalks sold by grandmas and at the weekly farmers’ markets. My grocery bill is amazingly low, despite eating “high off the hog.” I have never had such a healthy diet, except that I do have to rein myself in when it comes to eating out at everywhere from street stalls to fine dining establishments—the food is cheap and simply outstanding.A doctor visit in a private clinic of your choice costs less than $20 out of pocket (about $35–40 for a specialist) and you get all the time you need, not 3 minutes with an NP or PA. All of the doctors I have seen speak great English, having been educated as well or better than their American counterparts. Most of them have spent time practicing medicine in the US and/or other developed countries. I do my research beforehand and I find that if I have a health problem that is not totally straightforward, or am prescribed an unfamiliar medication, my doctors know more than I do about the risks and benefits, without having to consult Google.The typical simple x-ray costs around $15 out of pocket and an MRI in Mexico costs around $500 out of pocket. You can just walk in and ask for one if you think you broke something or have pneumonia. You don’t need to run the gauntlet of seeing first your PCP, then the specialist a couple months later if you are lucky, and then there is the followup visit with the specialist to interpret the results of your tests. If you need a specialist and you know it, you just call directly and make an appointment and generally wait less than a few days to get in.Medications are ridiculously cheap with only a few exceptions. The Humalog insulin that now costs a CRIMINAL $835 per vial in the US costs $5 in Mexico. Items that you have to beg for in the US (Rx only after you pay to see your PCP and also maybe a specialist) are very readily available in Mexico over the counter. You do take your chances if you try to buy narcotics, which are dispensed from under the counter. No expat in his/her right mind takes the risk of ending up in a Mexican jail for a few fake Vicodin when Tramadol and Toradol and Voltaren do not require a prescription.Is it any wonder that 6,000 to 10,000 Americans and Canadians cross the border every day in just about every major border city? I recently had a root canal and 3D printed ceramic cap done for $175. A typical dental implant is about $400.Hospitals are for the most part clean enough to eat off the floor and the care is outstanding. I recently priced having my gall bladder removed, and it would have been around $1500 including all preliminary and postsurgical tests and procedures, professional fees, private room, and follow up visits. I could not have had it done for less in the US, all variables considered.I also belong to the free national health care system. For simple issues, it only means showing up early in the morning at the clinic and waiting my turn to see the doctor, who might send me down the street to obtain free or very low copay medications and tests. The public hospital is 15 miles away and would be free or nearly free, and an ambulance ride would cost whatever I wanted to donate to the Croz Roja (Red Cross), which also gives free or low cost urgent care.When I get old enough to need assisted care, there is an increasing number of assisted living and full-care nursing homes in my area, which is considered a “gringoland,” or better stated, heavily favored by and populated by mainly American and Canadian expatriates. I could just as easily go to a small town off the beaten track and find any number of families who give professional level individual care to invalids and the aged. Most larger towns now have special “memory care” facilities for those who suffer from dementia. The typical nursing home costs roughly $1500 per month plus medications and special treatments. That is all out of pocket, but then again, no government agency confiscates and sells my property and takes my bank accounts and leaves me with $30 a month for discretional expenses.I could buy a house but I’d rather stay mobile, so I rent. The rental housing is better than anything I could afford in the US and nearly all rentals come fully furnished and equipped with EVERYTHING you need (bring a couple of suitcases with your clothes and shoes), including weekly maid service and a gardener who comes three half days a week to make my courtyard and rooftop gardens places to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of Mexico. For all of that, my rent would be at least three times as much as I pay.The Mexican people enrich my life. Their warmth and delight in the simple pleasures of life shine through. My friends and neighbors would not think of passing by without giving me a smile and a greeting in response to the same from me. There is crime here, but the overwhelming majority of it is not violent, it is property crime. Yes, we do have bars on the windows for a reason, and homes do get robbed whenever the neighborhood watchers are sleeping. I venture to say that the crime rate in my town for all kinds of offenses is a mere fraction of any equivalent sized town in the US. I feel infinitely safer walking down a street in nearly any place in Mexico than I ever have in any city in America, but I have the good sense to stay away from rough border towns and cartel-infested areas. I have taken a tumble on the cobblestone streets a few times, and people literally rush out of their houses to help me up and make sure I am OK. I love hearing the horsemen and their beautiful beasts clip clop home after a day of work, and the farmers pass by with their bullhorns, advertising what they are selling from the back of their pickups.I have not seen a snowflake since moving to Mexico. In fact, the lowest temp I can recall was 52 degrees. If you like it hot, you can go to the coast or a jungley area—dry or humid, take your pick. I’m old, so I like the place where I live, where it gets up to 90 degrees for a couple of months per year, and is about 70–75 at noon the rest of the year. There is a rainy season everywhere in Mexico except the deserts. It mostly rains at night, so you can enjoy your normal routines.Entertainment in Mexico is right on your doorstep. Or you can go to the bars and cafes and theatres for a huge variety of music, dance, comedy, plays, and so forth. I like flamenco and a troupe regularly comes through town and puts on a stunning show (with dinner and a drink) for about $15. Art galleries are everywhere. There are weavers, potters, tile makers, furniture makers, indigenous artists, jewelery makers at every turn.Yes, Mexico has enriched my life—financially, spiritually, culturally, and in every other way.