Free food, clothing and things for your home
Where to get free groceries and hot meals in New York, and where to find clothing and things for your home.
Start here
- Find free food near you on the Food Help NYC map of the City agency HRA or on the Food Bank For NYC map, which lists 800 places with groceries and hot meals.
- Hours change: check them on the map before you go.
- If you have asylum or refugee status but no green card yet, since April 2026 you cannot get SNAP, the federal grocery benefit, yourself. You can still apply for a child who is a U.S. citizen.
Open the Food Help NYC map
HRA, the City benefits agency, keeps the map and a downloadable list of food pantries and community kitchens. Without internet, call 311 and say “Russian”: a free interpreter joins and they give you the nearest addresses. You can also text 311-692.
Or check the Food Bank For NYC map
Its Find Food page lists 800 places for free groceries, hot meals and help with SNAP.
Choose the kind of place
A food pantry gives out groceries you cook at home; a community kitchen serves meals.
Check the hours
Hours change, so check them on the map before you go.
No pantry nearby? Try a community fridge
A public refrigerator on the street where people leave food for anyone. The food is free, available 24/7, no questions asked, but a fridge can be empty.
Community Food Connection (CFC)
Free
This City program (formerly EFAP) funds more than 700 community kitchens and food pantries across the city. Find them on the Food Help NYC map or in the downloadable list.
Food Bank For NYC: Find Food
Free
A map of 800 places: free groceries, hot meals and help with SNAP. The site also lists pop-up food distributions near you and tax-filing help.
Community fridges: the FeedAM directory
Free
78 community fridges in New York State with addresses, including in Brooklyn and the Bronx. The food is free, available 24/7, no questions asked. Volunteers stock the fridges and they can be empty, so check any notes about what is inside.
Freedge
Free
A network of community fridges: anyone can leave food and anyone can take it. Use Find a Freedge to locate one.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
A federal food benefit loaded onto an EBT card, which you use in stores like a debit card. Apply on ACCESS HRA, the City's website and app, where you can also track the application and upload documents. Since April 2026, New York State has enforced new limits under the federal law H.R. 1 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025), for new applications and renewals. Refugees, people granted asylum (asylees), survivors of human trafficking and people with withholding of removal (court protection from deportation) are no longer eligible until they get a green card. Green card holders keep SNAP if any one condition is true, for example more than 5 years in a "qualified" status or a green card that came through asylum or refugee status. U.S. citizens can still qualify. If this affects you, get legal advice right away: Legal Services NYC offers free help at 917-661-4500 (press 3 for Russian), Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., subject to capacity.
Pet Food Pantries
Free
HRA publishes a list of pet food pantries. Other pet help is on the Mayor's Office of Animal Welfare page.
There is less free furniture and clothing than free food.
Buy Nothing Project
Free
Neighbors give each other things for free and ask for what they need, in the Buy Nothing app (iOS, Android, web) or in Facebook groups. Groups are by neighborhood; pick yours when you join. The project says it has more than 14 million members in more than 50 countries.
Habitat for Humanity NYC and Westchester: ReStore
Low cost
A store in Yonkers selling new and gently used furniture, appliances, home goods and building materials far below retail prices; proceeds go to affordable housing. You can also shop online. Not free, but cheap.
- Food pantry
- A place that gives out free groceries you cook at home.
- Community kitchen
- A free kitchen that serves meals.
- Community fridge
- A public refrigerator on the street where people leave food and anyone who needs it can take it.
- SNAP
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: money for groceries for households with low income, issued by HRA on an EBT card.
- EBT
- Electronic Benefits Transfer card: the card HRA loads with SNAP and Cash Assistance, used in stores like a debit card.
- H.R. 1
- The 2025 federal law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: it changed SNAP rules for immigrants, and New York has enforced the new limits since April 2026.
- HRA
- Human Resources Administration: the New York City agency that issues benefits such as SNAP.
- ACCESS HRA
- HRA's website and app for applying for benefits, tracking them and uploading documents.
- 311
- New York City's information line: open 24/7, with interpreters in 175 languages, Russian included.
This is general information, not legal advice: QARAVAN has no lawyers. QARAVAN does not help anyone enter the US and cannot arrange visas, invitations, sponsorship or evacuation. For your own case, talk to a licensed immigration attorney or a representative accredited by the U.S. Department of Justice.