City Relief

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City Relief Mobile Homeless Resource Center Over 20 years time, The Relief Bus has:

Served over 3 million servings of food and beverage. Come join us won't you?

Friendly faces serve up a delicious, hearty vegetable soup that truly tantalizes the taste buds, fresh Portuguese rolls and hot chocolate or iced tea (depending on the season) complete the menu. Connected 120,000 people to help and hope. Mobilized over 30,000 volunteers to serve with our outreach. People on the streets show up for the great food, but come away with so much more. Staff and volunteers go out of their way to really LOVE people. Many people on the streets are in a hard place in life and need a friend- someone to talk to who will really listen. When we discover the needs in people's lives, we go to work to actually help meet those needs. We connect people to shelter, job training, medical care, detox and faith-based drug/alcohol rehabilitation centers. This kind of helping hand can literally transform someone's future and can many times make the difference between life and death. We have seen men and women totally turn their lives around because someone they met on the bus took the time to care. It was the first step to freedom and a new life. Get involved by making a donation or signing up to volunteer today!

10/16/2026

Cedric said he used to throw food away without thinking twice, but one day volunteering with City Relief changed that.

Cedric is a truck driver with 11 years on the job. Homelessness in New York wasn't something he saw up close until he showed up to volunteer.

He came back a second time. Everyone from our partners at who has volunteered with City Relief says they would do it again.

Showing up changes how you see the world outside your own routine.

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10/09/2026

Mark had his own apartment. He is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, anxiety, and major depression. When the program that was supposed to provide mental health support closed and never reopened, he found himself unable to manage his symptoms and fell into homelessness.

He ended up at a City Relief outreach. He sat down, put his bag on the floor, and told himself he was not moving. A member of our outreach team noticed his face and asked if he was all right.

Mark said no, and City Relief stepped in to help.

Tomorrow is World Mental Health Day. Mark's story is a reminder that mental health care and housing instability are deeply intertwined, and we need programs that address them in tandem.

Like and follow to learn more about how City Relief serves unhoused neighbors.

City Relief's cost-per-meal was $1.05 in 2021. In five years, that cost has risen to $1.79. That's a 70% increase.Betwee...
10/07/2026

City Relief's cost-per-meal was $1.05 in 2021. In five years, that cost has risen to $1.79. That's a 70% increase.

Between October and June, our teams served 38,138 meals.

At the old price, that's about $40,000 in expenses. At today's price, it's roughly $70,000.

Fuel, drinks, and everything else our buses carry went up too.

Making it even harder is that costs rise, so does the need. Costs have increased for all of us, including people who were already struggling to afford groceries. Now, our lines are longer.

If you have the means, make a donation to support our work at the link in our bio, or by going to cityrelief.org/give

10/05/2026

When an encampment gets cleared, what goes in the garbage truck is peoples' entire lives. It's prescription medications, identification documents, beds, pictures of loved ones - everything.

Sometimes getting someone into housing is a waiting game. But if a sweep moved that person from the corner where the outreach worker knew to find them, that person gets pushed further back in the line.

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10/02/2026

Barbra said volunteering keeps her grounded. It is easy to get into a routine and forget there is a whole world outside of it, but coming out here reminds her she is not always the center.

Help out your community today by volunteering with us! Visit cityrelief.org/volunteer

The most useful tool in outreach is already in your pocket. Matthew runs outreach for City Relief and uses it every sing...
09/30/2026

The most useful tool in outreach is already in your pocket. Matthew runs outreach for City Relief and uses it every single day.

Open Google and type "shelter near me," "food pantry near me," or "detox center near me." Real addresses. Real phone numbers. In

In New York City, you can also call or text 311 to connect directly with city services.

No special training. No insider knowledge. Just a search bar and thirty seconds.

The part that makes it powerful: you are not handing someone information and walking away. You are standing there with them,
doing the work together. That is the difference between pointing someone in a direction and actually walking them toward it.

Your phone already has the answer. Use it.

Learn more about how City Relief serves unhoused neighbors at cityrelief.org.

09/28/2026

There is a difference between pointing someone in a direction and walking them toward it, and thirty seconds in a search bar is all you need to get there!

Type "shelter near me," "food pantry near me," or "detox center near me" into Google. In New York City, you can also call or text 311 to connect directly with city services. In New Jersey, it's 211.

Learn more about how City Relief serves unhoused neighbors at cityrelief.org.

09/25/2026

Reagan knows what City Relief believes: that the best way to show someone God's love is in service to His most marginalized children.

He wants us to show up without judgement, and with nothing but care, love, and a helping hand. Our role is to live His Word by treating every person that comes to outreach with kindness, warmth, empathy, and compassion, no matter what.

Our volunteers embody that at every outreach.

Learn more at cityrelief.org/volunteer.

In LA County, leaving someone on the street costs the public $2,897 per month in emergency services. Housing them costs ...
09/23/2026

In LA County, leaving someone on the street costs the public $2,897 per month in emergency services. Housing them costs $605. The math has never favored leaving people outside.

A Seattle study found savings of $36,579 per person, per year.

California's Project Homekey turned the temporary hotel model into a $3.35 billion program that converted motels and hotels into permanent housing.

A Motel 6 became 88 permanent homes. A Best Western became 102 interim rooms.

The hotel programs did not end because they failed. They ended because the political justification for continuing them disappeared when the emergency did.

We have the data. We have the blueprint. The real question is whether we are willing to treat what we already know like it matters.

Support outreach that takes the long view at cityrelief.org.

09/21/2026

COVID-19 hotel housing programs ended because the emergency that made them politically possible passed. But we still have the data from what they produced.

In LA County, leaving someone on the street costs the public $2,897 per month in emergency services. Supportive housing costs $605.

A Seattle study found savings of $36,579 per person per year. This has been documented repeatedly. The math doesn't lie!.

We have the data, the question is whether we are willing to treat it like it matters.

Learn more about how City Relief advocates for unhoused neighbors at cityrelief.org.

Address

35 Hazel Street
Elizabeth, NJ
07013

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

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