Donate an AC unit and keep your community cool this summer!

May 19, 2021

Every year, Community Forklift’s Home Essentials Program (HELP) provides dozens of free air conditioners to neighbors who need one but can’t afford it. Many seniors and people with medical conditions risk serious health problems as the temperatures rise. For an elderly neighbor, someone suffering from heart or lung problems, or a child with asthma growing up in a neighborhood with heavily-polluted air, an air conditioner can make a world of difference.

This year we already have 18 households waiting for A/C units and summer hasn’t even begun! We need your help to deliver cool air to your neighbors in need! Here’s how:

  1. DONATE: You can donate unneeded window or in-room air conditioning units under 10 years of age at our reuse warehouse in Hyattsville, MD. We are open Monday through Sunday, 12 to 5 pm.
  2. FUND THE CAUSE: Help us buy new units to donate directly to a Home Essentials client! When donating money through our online contribution form, add a note in the comments section that you’d like your contribution to go to the HELP program.
  3. BUY AND DONATE A NEW A/C UNIT: If you don’t have a used A/C unit to donate, we also accept new ones! Just drop it off at the reuse warehouse any day between 12 and 5 pm and pick up your receipt for your tax-deductible donation.
  4. SPREAD THE WORD: Do you know of someone who might have an air conditioner to donate? Let your family, friends, and neighbors know that we can put it to good use!

Community Forklift is a 501(c)3 non-profit and your donation is tax-deductible to the maximum extent allowed by law. Every act of support, whether it’s a material donation, financial gift, or verbal advocacy, will help our neighbors beat the heat this summer. Thank you!

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Every donation and purchase helps us lift up local communities through reuse. Community Forklift turns the construction waste stream into a resource stream for communities in the DC region – by keeping perfectly good items out of the landfill, preserving historical materials, providing low-cost building supplies, and creating local green jobs.