Where To Donate A Transport Chair ?

Have you got a transport chair that you no longer use ? Donating it to any number of organizations, or person to person online, can make a great difference to someone else’s life. 

You have lots of options for donating “gently used” transport chairs –  State Assistive Technology Projects, state online equipment exchanges, reuse centers, community loan closets (state and local), Bikur Cholim, non-profit charities, thrift stores, medical equipment refurbishment projects, faith based organizations, local churches, senior centers and veterans centers, or online on classified listing websites and social media platforms with marketplaces.

Donating transport chairs to Assistive Technology Programs

State Assistive Technology Programs (AT Programs)

State Assistive Technology Programs (AT Programs) are designed to improve access for low income individuals and families, the disabled, and the elderly, to assistive technology devices, which includes durable medical equipment.

If you want to learn how to donate to your State AT Program website, just select your state from the lists below.

Click on your state to go to your AT program website

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

District of Columbia

Donating transport chairs to Refurbishment and Reuse Centers

If you decide to donate your transport chair to a medical equipment refurbishment or reuse center, it’s worth knowing that both typically have programs established for the redistribution of donated items to individuals in need.

Refurbishment and reuse centers are typically run by non-profit organizations, and the costs are kept low so that the items can be offered, or sold, for the lowest price possible.

Donating transport chairs to Centers for Independent Living

I would encourage people to donate their durable medical equipment to Centers for Independent Living, as many of them operate loan closets that cater to the needs of their disabled members.

“A Center for Independent Living  are – Designed and operated by individuals with disabilities, Centers for Independent Living (CILs) provide independent living services for people with disabilities. CILs are at the core of ACL’s independent living programs, which work to support community living and independence for people with disabilities across the nation based on the belief that all people can live with dignity, make their own choices, and participate fully in society. These programs provide tools, resources, and supports for integrating people with disabilities fully into their communities to promote equal opportunities, self-determination, and respect.”

Source : https://acl.gov/programs/aging-and-disability-networks/centers-independent-living

To locate a Center for Independent Living near you, go here website.

Donating transport chairs to Medical Equipment Loan Closets

Medical equipment loan closets provide another wonderful opportunity to donate new or gently used durable medical equipment, and to help other people. The loan closets will normally lend durable medical equipment to any community members who need it.

Donating to loan closets means your transport chair will, in most cases, be loaned out at no cost.

Loan closets can be vast or small operations, with some operated across an entire state, while others are run for the local community by a handful of dedicated volunteers working out of small improvised spaces.

You can find a loan closet near you by doing a few searches –

I tend to start by looking in a few specific places –

• I will do a search on the internet, for “medical equipment loan closet + your location”, “medical equipment lending closet + your location”, “medical equipment lending bank + your location”, or “medical equipment bank + your location” – I try all of these in the order I have written them until I get a result
• If you draw a blank with your online searches, I would contact your county Area Agency on Aging – to find yours, you need to go to the link here
• next there’s your local human resources, or seniors department – talk to them to see if they run any community medical loan closets, or if they are aware of any
• medical equipment refurbishing or reuse centers near you will most likely have their contact information online, so I would just search for those, and talk to them to see if they know of, or have a loan closet
• Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs and American Legion Posts – I have found lots of community medical equipment loan closets run for their local communities by these three organizations

To locate a Lions Club in your area, check out my article here – How To Find A Lions Club Near Me ? A Very Quick Illustrated Guide

To locate a Rotary Club in your area, check out my article here – How To Find A Rotary Club Near Me ? A Very Quick Illustrated Guide

Bikur Cholim or Medical Equipment Gemacht –  Jewish medical equipment loan closets open to, and run by, members of the Jewish community. They work on the same principle as other loan closets, to help those in their faith community in need.

To find one, you can ask at your local synagogue, or look here on the Chesed Match website.

Great Lakes Loan Closets

The Great Lakes Loan Closets service the residents of Michigan, Wisconsin, Northern Indiana and Northern Illinois.

If you live in one of the above service areas, you can donate your transport chair to one of their loan closets. The network consists of several hundred loan closets which are run by all manner of local groups, churches, senior centers, and town or village councils, and which have all been very kindly listed on one website.

“Loan closets typically have durable medical equipment (DME) such as wheelchairs, shower chairs, bedside commodes, walkers, crutches, canes, and high-rise toilet seats. Some may also have hospital beds or electric wheelchairs available. Each loan closet is unique, with its own set of eligibility requirements, equipment, and loan period.” – Source – the Great Lakes Loan Closets website

If you wish to donate your transport chair to one of these closets, there is a locator tool on the home page of their website – https://loanclosets.org/

National and International organizations which accept durable medical equipment donations

Goodwill

To donate your transport chair, you need to locate a store near you which can do with this link – https://www.goodwill.org/locator/

Salvation Army

To donate your transport chair, click on the following link website  – https://satruck.org/

EasterSeals

To locate your local affiliate, use this link – https://www.easterseals.com/connect-locally/

The Partnership for Quality Medical Donations

The website donating page is here – http://www.pqmd.org/pillars/donation-guidelines/

Project Cure

Donating is here – https://projectcure.org/donate-supplies-equipment

REMEDY – Recovered Medical Equipment for the developing World

To donate equipment to REMEDY, go to this web page – https://www.med-eq.org/Login/form.aspx?type=donate&quick=1

Advocates for World Health

Donating durable medical equipment is here – https://awhealth.org/donate-medical-equipment/

Esperenca

To donate, go here – https://www.esperanca.org/donate-supplies/

MedShare

Go to the MedShare website to donate here – https://www.medshare.org/

HERO Healthcare Equipment Recycling Organization

You can find about donating on their website – https://www.herofargo.org/wp-content/uploads/IndividualSupplies.pdf

MedWish

Donations are here on their website – https://www.medwish.org/give

Global Links

To donate your transport chair, look at this website page – https://www.globallinks.org/our-work/programs/medical-surplus-recovery-program/individual-and-community-surplus-recovery

Global Mobility USA

You can contact them at this web address – http://www.globalmobilityusa.org/equipment-and-in-kind-donations

Medical Bridges

This is the donation page on their website – http://www.medicalbridges.org/donate/medical-supplies-and-equipment

Online listing sites where you can donate transport chairs near you

It is also possible to make a donation by offering your transport chair on online listings like Craigslist, in a social media site’s marketplace and other platforms, and you can do it as close to home as you wish – you decide on the area in which your donation advertisement can be seen.

There are a few things to be aware of when doing this –

• if you care for an elderly person in your home, to ensure their privacy, don’t have individuals that you don’t know come into your home for the transport chair pick-up
•  arrange to give the person your transport chair in a public place – such as a mall or a car park
• for big valuable items like a scooter or patient lift, have it delivered to the recipient at their cost (unless you have a truck and free time) – they will still be making a huge saving on a free gift
• you will want to create a throwaway email address if you are posting donations on classified listings –  this will prevent your personal email from being drowned in spam
• if you are donating items on Facebook, Nextdoor, Freecycle and OfferUp, you won’t have any problems with spam, but for equipment pick-ups etc, you still want to take care about whom you let into your home
• when donating your item person to person, you need to write in the description of your item in your posting, that you are donating it “as is”, and that you accept no liability if the new user has any sort of accident or problem with the equipment.

Sites on which you can donate items –

• Craigslist.com
• UsedHME.com
• Nextdoor.com
• Facebook.com
• Freecycle.org
• OfferUp.com

If you don’t know how to donate on these sites, you can consult my short illustrated guides on donating new, or used, medical, equipment on each of the following platforms –

Craigslist.com – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me On Craigslist ? An Illustrated Guide”

UsedHME.com – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me On UsedHME ? An illustrated Guide”

Facebook.com – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me On Facebook ? An Illustrated Guide”

Freecycle.org – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me on Freecycle.org ? A Very Quick Illustrated Guide”

Nextdoor.com – “How To Get Free Medical Equipment Near Me On Nextdoor.com ? A Quick Illustrated Guide”

OfferUp.com – No need for an article on this, as there is a very good video showing how to use OfferUp, see below.

Donating transport chairs in your neighborhood

Of course, you don’t have to donate your transport chair online, you can call or visit, some of the following places in your neighborhood to see if they would like your donation –

• Local Hospitals
• Emergency rooms
• Thrift stores – call first, as not all do sell used medical equipment
• Senior Centers or Elderly Day Care Centers
• Veterans Centers
• Local Retirement Homes
• Homeless Shelters
• Talk to your local council Seniors’ department

Organizations near you who may know where to donate transport chairs

Still no luck with placing your donation ? Here are a few extra organizations which may be able to give you some ideas of where you may be able to donate the chair –

Area Agencies On Aging

Area Agencies on Aging, should know of any loan closets in your area.

The Area Agency on Aging locator tool is –  here.

 Social Services

Social Services are another administration which should also know of any programs that are accepting donations of durable medical equipment, such as transport chairs.

Faith-based Charities

Certain established faith based charities run multiple programs for the homeless, refugees, individuals in need and victims of abuse, all across the whole of the US.

Two such charities with chapters all over the US are –

The Catholic Charities

Society of St Vincent de Paul

You can find their contact details for your area by entering the “name of the charity + where you live” into the web browser of your choice.

Local Town Hall or Chamber of Commerce

Town Halls and Chamber of Commerce should have the records of all nonprofit organizations, charities and community groups working to refurbish durable medical equipment and to then redistribute it, so try to get a hold of that information from them.

Reasons why your transport chairs may not be accepted

Here are some examples of reasons of why your transport chair may not be accepted as a donation-

• people may find it to be too old or a bit too roughed up
• most used durable medical equipment will need to be sanitized, and many organizations aren’t set up for that
• a lot of companies don’t deal in used items, as they have no warranty
• some state laws don’t allow for certain items to be reused

***It is very important to remember, that when you are donating your transport chair person to person, you must state that you are donating it “as is”, and that you accept no liability if the new user has any sort of accident, or problem, with the equipment – if you are doing it online, you can just write that within the description of the item you are offering.

Tax deductions on donations

Keep your receipt for donations that you make to charities if you are claiming a tax deduction – the IRS will require the receipt for the item.