Food

  • St. Pete Free Clinic - offers FRESH, nutritious produce, meats, food staples, and hygiene items for FREE to any Pinellas County resident in need through an indoor choice option and two drive-thru options.
  • There's no shame in going to our MANY food banks.
  • If you need a quicker fix for food, try any gas station at 10 pm, ask for day old discarded donuts, or wings and sandwiches that are too old to sell. Dig around and find expired food on shelves, and offer to let the cashier to write it off in exchange for you "discarding it". There's also sometimes overstock food that's clean, in bags, in dumpsters behind supermarkets. A good way to find pet food, also.
  • Summer BreakSpot - Some schools offer free food to students even during summer break.

Household

  • Free paint, cleaners, pest control, and chemicals - the solid waste center in Pinellas park has a swap shop where you can get free paint and chemicals of all sorts. ID is required.
  • Free Lumber - Stine Custom Woodworks always have a huge bin out front and they let you take whatever lumber you need. Some of it has a lot of nails, but some is in good shape.
  • Free pallet-size plywood - Jacobsen Homes in Safety Harbor makes mobile homes and they have a ton of approximately pallet sized pieces of plywood, open to the public. They even keep it in front of the property fence lmao. They're a really nice company. Yaay free wood!!!
  • Cheap Clothes and households - For DIRT cheap, nice clothes, and the best used housewares, and books and linens and shelving and toys and just GOD, you name it- The Goodwill Outlet is behind the Goodwill "retail" store on Gandy (10596 Gandy Blvd N) by Derby Lanes. In the back corner of the parking lot. That's the one. There is a Goodwill Outlet in every region, but only one, and its a "by the pound" store. We are SO lucky to have a Goodwill OUTLET store right here in town. Its like $1.50/lb for household wares, which is your coffee makers, shelves, whatever, and $1.99/lb for linens, like $1.75 a pound for clothes now. They changed the rates a little. The employees also try to give you a much cheaper deal than what a heavier thing will sell for. But for $20 you're going to fill a cart, and you will leave in a tune. We always try the outlet first now.
  • Habitat for Humanity (13355 49th St N Ste B, Clearwater, FL 33762), is a good place to go for furnishings, and electrical, and fixtures and stuff like that.
  • Layman's Salvage yard (14144 66th St N, Largo, FL 33771), which is mostly covered and indoor, but they have even more than Habitat for Humanity does, just not a huge amount of furniture. They have a ton of doors, toilets, bidets, tile, electrical, they have grout and shit like that, its insane. A person can get decent home repairs done by going there first. They have windows. Its a great place to walk through and browse, to know whats offered at least.

  • City gives out free compost bins for your gardens. Register online and they should send one within a few months. Has been great for my garden and plants, also makes you realize how much compostable items we throw away in the trash!

Hygiene

  • Shower - If you only require a shower, you can consider visiting a truck stop where you can avail a decent shower at a cost ranging from $5 to $15. Alternatively, you may ask truckers if they have any additional shower passes they are willing to offer, as some truckers receive these benefits upon purchasing fuel even if they are not over-the-road. This could be a beneficial option, especially if you are homeless and have a job interview scheduled.
  • Haircut - There is no shame in asking for a haircut from people in churches. Sometimes the church will just comp the barber for the cut.
  • Laundry - Churches also often have laundry quarter outreach programs, like they go to laundromats and just pay for peoples laundry, so you can ask around and maybe even get to use a church's washer and dryer once in a while. You don't know until you ask.

Work

  • If you need a job, or are looking for a career change, even, go to the (DOE Connect) Reemployment Assistance office. There are always several employers who are offering a few weeks of paid formal training in exchange for a contracted amount of time of work, generally a year. Its a great way to put your feelers out, to see what is available and to get some on-the-job training in a few different fields, while you probably put off going to college, just looking for direction and inspiration.
  • Interview Attire - Goodwill also offers interview attire for free for people who connect with their job placement personnel. I think you can get two suits that way. Salvation Army probably also offers free interview clothes as well.

Transportation

  • PSTA Reduced Fare Busses - $1.10 per pass for: Adult Student, Youth, Senior, Disabled (with proper ID)
    • SunRunner and Central Avenue Trolley are free

Other

  • Free Internet Hotspots are available to checkout from the local library.
  • Abusive Relationship help - If you are in a violent relationship, and need a safe place to go, there are some safe houses, the locations are kept secret for obvious reasons, and you can even get a police escort to get there. Call the domestic violence hotline 800.799.SAFE (7233) or locally, call CASA or Harbor House directly, to see if they have space and if they can take you. You can also file for free, for a domestic violence injunction for protection against domestic violence, dating violence, repeat violence, or stalking violence.
  • Gulf Coast Legal - Legal aid for those in need.
  • If you are poor and need to file a case (divorce, custody, or any other civil case that comes with filing fees, etc) you can go to the courthouse and file an application for indigent status. These are usually approved for renters who cant afford filing fees and legal counsel. This waives your court costs, minus a small stipend for having someone served papers. I was divorced for the low price of $10.25. There are additional legal helpers, like St Pete Legal Aid, that you can also plead with to take your case pro bono.. Indigent status lasts for 6 months at a time. You can always refile again later.

  • St Vincent De Paul Charity helps veterans with security deposits on apartments.

  • The VA is a good place to go, for Veterans in crisis. There are social workers there that can help you get into the HUD VASH (housing) program.

  • Community Coordinated Care for Children, aka 4C, which I think parents have to go through a few steps to get into. But they get vouchers for child care assistance also.

  • PACE Elder care - One person's story here.

  • Step Up For Students Scholarships for education.

  • Federal programs like Section 8, SNAP, TANF, WIC, etc

For Homeowners

  • Homeowners whose incomes are within a certain percentage of the poverty level you can get super cheap help with keeping your home up, like doing bathrooms and kitchens, redoing floors, roofs etc through the city. LINK NEEDED
  • The county has a once in a lifetime "rent or mortgage" payment assistance, for one month of rent or mortgage. LINK NEEDED
  • The county has a down payment assistance program up to I believe its 10k, with free, and required, credit counseling. LINK NEEDED
  • Free mulch / wood - Bush and Recycling Center at 1000 62nd Ave NE, St. Petersburg, FL 33702. There are also piles of broken tile if someone wanted to do some kind of art with tile. Bring your own buckets and shovels.

Note: Many of these resources were collected from this Reddit thread.

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