Where To Donate Used Medical Equipment in San Diego

If you want to donate used medical equipment in San Diego, I’ve made a list of all the organizations, and their locations, to which you can donate.

You can donate used medical equipment in San Diego to –

• the California Assistive Technology Program “Ability Tools”
• reuse centers, such as “UCP of San Diego”
• recycling centers
• the “Center for Independent Living, Inc. Berkeley”
• loan closets and lending libraries for medical equipment, such as “Cecily’s Closet”
• nonprofits helping the disabled in their communities, such as “PT For All”
• Thrift stores, such as “Amvets” or “Desert Industries Thrift Store”
• Salvation army stores
• Rotary Clubs
• Lyons Clubs
• nursing homes
• veteran centers
• senior centers

You can also donate used medical equipment person-to-person, in San Diego, using online platforms and social media sites such as –

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

Or

• Med-Eq.org, who will help you donate your equipment to a charity registered with them

There are links to my guides on how to donate on each of these online platforms below, in the online section of this article.
The “Table of Contents” below has Quick links to all the different sections, so if there is one you prefer to investigate, you can go straight to it.

California Assistive Technology Program

Ability Tools – the California Assistive Technology Program

Ability tools is a great option for donating medical equipment if you use their online equipment exchange.

Ability Tools has an online Assistive Technology Exchange where you can post AT devices, including durable medical equipment, for donation, or for sale – it’s free, and any state resident can sign up.

The Assistive Technology Exchange website can be found by going to – http://abilitytools.org/services/at-exchange-transition.php

Ability Tools is partnered with reuse programs who post their available inventory on the Assistive Technology Exchange website as well as private individuals.

Some Reuse Programs are part of a coalition known as the California Assistive Technology Reuse Coalition.

You can find the demonstration centers and lending libraries for devices on the Ability Tools website here.
 

Reuse centers in and near San Diego

UCP of San Diego County

UCP – United Cerebral Palsy – recycles gently used durable medical equipment to those in need of this equipment for free.

You can donate durable medical equipment to the UCP.

The equipment you can donate includes –

• wheelchairs
• walkers
• scooters
• strollers
• canes
• standers
• bath chairs
• gait trainers

If you would like to donate equipment, call the UCP on 858 571 7803 ext. 115

Website: https://www.ucpsd.org/programs/equipment_recycling.html

Physical Therapy For All

The majority of the organization’s rehabilitation equipment is donated to nonprofit organizations in Orange County and San Diego County.

Much of this equipment is reused and passed along free of charge to people without the financial resources to buy it themselves.

You can donate items such as –

• wheelchairs
• crutches
• canes
• walkers
• braces

You can make inquiries on the phone number below, or on their website.

Address:
31022 Via Mirador,
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

Phone: 949 735 9955

Website: https://www.ptforall.org

_________________________

Goodwill Stores, which accept donations of used medical equipment in San Diego

Goodwill San Diego County has 49 locations in and around San Diego where you can donate items for their thrift stores.

Not all take used medical equipment, so do call first rather than just turning up.

You can go to their locator tool to find stores with donation points here.

Just click on the location you want, and you will get the store information.
 

Salvation Army donation drop-off locations in San Diego

 
The Salvation Army, accepts donations including some home medical equipment, but only so long as it is in good condition.

To donate home medical equipment you will want to go to this page on their website  – https://satruck.org/

Below is a screenshot of that page.
 

Enter your zip code in the box below the service you require, and you will see a map with all the locations, addresses and contact links, as you can see in the screenshot below.

All you have to do is to pick a site from the map, or the list, and contact them about dropping your donation off.

Other organizations and thrift stores which accept donations of equipment in the San Diego Area

Amvets Thrift Stores

The money raised at Amvets thrift stores through the sales of donated equipment goes to veterans, veterans’ families and communities in California.

On the store’s Facebook page, you can see for sale –

• adjustable/hospital bed
• bedside commode
• rollators
• walkers
• patient lift

Here is the Facebook page  –

https://www.facebook.com/TeamAmvetsHilltop/

Address: 

Amvets Thrift Store

999 Cardiff St,

San Diego, CA 92114

Phone: 619 651 1650

Team Amvets Thrift Store

3441 Sutherland St #2031,

San Diego, CA 92110

Phone: 619 297 4213

DAV Thrift Stores

D.A.V.  is a nonprofit organization which runs 4 thrift stores raising money to help support disabled American veterans.

D.A.V. accepts donations of –

• wheelchairs
• walkers
• shower chairs
• commodes
• hospital beds
• canes
• transport bench
• crutches

Website: https://www.davveteransthriftstores.com/

Phone: 800 894 2486

Addresses –

Spring Valley

1049 Elkelton Blvd,

Spring Valley, CA 91977

Chula Vista

L Street & Broadway E of I-5 881 Broadway,

Chula Vista, CA 91911

El Cajon

1130 E Main St,

El Cajon, CA 92021

Oceanside

Cassidy Street West of I-5 1624,

South Coast Hwy,

Oceanside, CA 92054

Deseret Industries Thrift Store

Deseret Industries thrift stores accept donations of “gently used” and clean home medical equipment.

Address:

1773 Broadway,

Chula Vista, CA 991911

Phone: 619 423 2317

Father Joe’s Villages

Father Joe’s Villages have a list of what not to donate, and used medical equipment is not on it, so I think it is safe to say that they accept used medical equipment.

There are 3 stores/donation centers plus a daily auction/donation center –

Daily Auctions and donation center –

815 33rd St,

San Diego, CA 92102

Imperial Beach –

Thrift Store and Donation Center

1555 Palm Ave, Suite F

San Diego, CA 92154

El Cajon –

Thrift Store and Donation Center

2325 Fletcher Parkway,

El Cajon, CA 92020

Hillcrest –

Thrift Store and Donation Center

1457 University Ave,

San Diego, CA 92103

Website: https://my.neighbor.org/take-action/donate-goods/

Greater Christ Temple Apostolic Church International Ministries Thrift Store

You will need to call to find out what equipment they accept.

Their website is here – https://www.christtemplesdchurch.org/home

Address:

309 Prescott Avenue,

El Cajon,

CA 92020

Phone: 619 937 0197

Mission Outreach Thrift Store

You can donate used medical equipment which is gently used and clean.

You can donate includes items such as –

• canes
• crutches
• walkers

Address:

3186 Adams Ave,

San Diego, CA 92116

Phone: 619 528 0026

Loan closets which accept donations of medical equipment in San Diego

Cecily’s Closet – San Diego

“Cecily’s Closet” partners with The UCP organization of San Diego to make used medical equipment available to those who need it.

The following passage is from the Cecily’s Closet website –

“Cecily’s Closet encourages parents to make donated equipment available to families in need directly through the Cecily’s Closet website. The process is simple:

1) Send us a picture and a description of your item to info@cecilyscloset.org or post directly to the Cecily’s Closet page on Facebook.

2) Cecily’s Closet will post the item to FaceBook.

3) Once we find an interested party we ask the interested party to pick it up directly from the donor.  This enables us to scale and recycle more equipment! “

Website: https://www.cecilyscloset.org/equipment-recycling.html
 

Ramona Food & Clothes Closet

Here is the website page for the loan closet – https://www.foodandclothescloset.org/medical-equipment-loan-program/

The loan closet is part of the thrift store they own.

Address:

773 Main Street,

Ramona, CA 92065

Phone: 760 789 4458

The types of equipment that you can donate –

Knee braces

ankle braces

wrist braces

Post-Op shoes

Crutches

compression socks

neck braces

back braces

boot braces

elbow braces

canes

shower chairs

wheelchairs

walkers

handicap toilets

Nursing homes in the San Diego area

Nursing home always need medical equipment, and will often accept gently used medical equipment – if they don’t it is probably because they have to have strict rules about sanitizing used equipment, and they may not be able to do that themselves.

Senior Centers in the San Diego area

Below is a list of the senior centers in the San Diego area, many of these may have their own loan closets and accept gently used medical equipment.

Veteran Centers in San Diego

Rather than visiting, just give them a call and see if they accept donations of medical equipment.
 

Donating used medical equipment in San Diego near me, online

Donating used home medical equipment online is an easy way to do it very close to home.

You can post a listing for very local areas, making it easy to meet somewhere close to you to pass on the item.

A couple of points about passing on equipment need to be made when you are using online listings –

1) It is not a good idea, in general, to hand the item over at your home.

Especially if you are the caregiver to an elderly, vulnerable person.

It is a good idea to arrange the pickup at a coffee shop, a mall or somewhere else in public, as you have no idea who may be picking the item up, and the person may have other motives, so just be careful.

2) Especially for women, it is a good idea to have another person accompany you to the drop-off meeting to hand your item.

3) Create a throwaway email address for the online posting if you are using Craigslist, as the email can easily become inundated with spam, and you don’t want to have this happen to your regular private email.

Popular websites where you can donate medical equipment –

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

Do be clear in the description of your item in any listing, that the item you are donating is given “as is”, and that you accept no responsibility for any breakage or accidents when the new owner uses it.

Don’t donate items which are in poor condition, they would be better going to a refurbishing center where they can either fix it, or use it for spare parts.

Donate used medical equipment in San Diego near me, on Craigslist

Craigslist.com is an online listing open to everyone, to list an item for sale or for free, or to buy and accept items.

Creating a listing is simple, and you do not have to join anything.

The area in which your listing can be seen can be easily refined, and you can select areas around your neighborhood to advertise, restricting where your listing can be seen it to certain neighborhoods in larger cities.

Craigslist is not a social media platform, and as anyone can use it, so be a little careful about giving out personal  information, as there are a lot of creeps out there – users of Craigslist do not have a profile that you can look at, like they will have on Facebook or some other sites, and you cannot check out who the person is you are meeting.

The site has a huge number of listings and is all over the world.

Craigslist also has a garage or yard sale section, where you can see what is going to be at the sales, by checking out the photographs that are posted. I know this is not really related to donating your equipment, but it is very useful if you want to get more stuff, or just go and drop the equipment off at a garage sale for them to sell.

You can find my illustrated guide on donating used home medical equipment on Craigslist.com here – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me On Craigslist ? An Illustrated Guide”

Donate used medical equipment in San Diego near me, on Freecycle.org

Freecycle.org is another good platform for those who want to give a new home to their no longer needed home medical equipment.

Freecycle.org says of itself –

“The Freecycle Network (TFN, or Freecycle) is a private, nonprofit organization registered in Arizona ….. TFN coordinates a worldwide network of “gifting” groups to divert reusable goods from landfills.”

From Wikepedia.org.

The Freecycle network is the product of a shared philosophy of gifting and reusing to protect the environment.

To be able to offer your items,  you do have to join groups, but it is free and simple enough to do.

You are able to check your area for groups before you join, and to take a look at what people in the group are offering and requesting.

Once you find a group in your area, you can join the group, and then gift whatever you would like, keeping it in circulation for others to reuse.

As with the other sites, you should really only give away equipment which is safe to use and in working order.

Do make sure that you make it clear in the item description that you are offering the item “as is”, and that you accept no responsibility if there is a problem afterwards, and that there is no guarantee for the item.

You can find my illustrated article on how to donate used home medical equipment near you on Freecycle.org, here – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me on Freecycle.org ? A Very Quick Illustrated Guide”

Donate used medical equipment in San Diego near me, on UsedHME.com

Used Home Medical Equipment is another online “free listing service where people can, buy, sell or donate” used home medical equipment, but it is different, in that it is dedicated to these products alone, so it makes it simpler to find what you need.

The service works by zip code, so that those in your zip code will be shown your listing.

You also have the option of adding more zip codes around you, to broaden the area of the search, if you want to.

If you choose to donate your item on usedhme.com, don’t give out your main private email, it’s better to create a throwaway email for this so if it gets spam emails you can just delete it.

The listings have a lot of free equipment, and it is a great way to help people who cannot afford to buy brand-new home medical equipment.

If your item is not in good working order, or unsafe, a better option is to donate it to a local refurbishment center where there are technicians who can either fix it, or use it for spare parts.

The transactions conducted on this site are between the person offering the items and the person who wants the item, and the website does not come in between the two.

You can find my illustrated guide on donating used home medical equipment on UsedHME.com here – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me On UsedHME ? An illustrated Guide”

Donate used medical equipment in San Diego near me, on Facebook

If you have a Facebook account, you’ll have two options for donating used medical equipment –

• join local “buy and sell” groups
• post listings on the Facebook Marketplace

There are many categories of items sold, bought and donated in “buy and sell” groups, and on the Facebook Marketplace.

And don’t worry if you don’t have a Facebook account, you can join for free.

Don’t give away equipment which is in bad condition, unless it is for spares.

Do be careful in your dealings with strangers, and do make it clear in your descriptions on your listings of donated items, that the equipment is donated “as is”. That it comes with no guarantees, and that you cannot be held responsible if the new owner has an accident using the item, or if it breaks.

You can find my illustrated guide on how to donate used home medical equipment on Facebook, here – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me On Facebook ? An Illustrated Guide”

Donate used medical equipment in San Diego near me, on Nextdoor.com

Nextdoor.com is an online platform for you to connect with your local community – your neighbors.

And where amongst many other things you can buy, sell and giveaway stuff.

It connects people with others in the surrounding neighborhoods, so it is a great place to buy, sell or give away free items, very locally.

You have to be a member to do this, but it is free.

When you join Nextdoor, the platform uses your address to connect you with others with addresses around you, making it more difficult than on some other sites for people using fake identities.

Even so, do not be lulled into a false sense of security, there are still scammers and fraudsters, and just because someone lives nearby, does not mean they won’t scam you.

As with all of these online platforms, don’t give away equipment which is not structurally sound.

In your product description on your listing, specify that the item is used, that the item comes with no guarantees, and that you accept no responsibility for any mishaps or breakages with that item – it is offered “as is”.

You can find my illustrated guide on how to donate used home medical equipment on Nextdoor.com, here –  “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me On Nextdoor ? An Illustrated Guide”

Donate used medical equipment in San Diego near me, on OfferUp

OfferUp is a “mobile first” platform, for selling and buying used goods – you can also use it on desktop.

It is very quick to use, but you have downloaded the free app to your mobile.

Setting the area that you want your listing to be shown in, and  items to pick-ups only, will keep it all in your local area.

Offerup bought the app Letgo and combined the services.

I have not written an article on OfferUp, as there is a very good video on this, which you can see below.

Donate used medical equipment in San Diego near me, with Med-eq.org

Med-eq.org is another online platform where you can donate your equipment, although it does it a bit differently, from the other sites above.

Private individuals can fill out a form on the website, and provide photographs of their medical equipment donation.

You list where you live, and you can state that you want the equipment to be picked up.

Shipping, if used, is assumed by the recipient of the equipment.

The information about your equipment is listed on the site.

Non-profit organizations which are members of Med-eq, and are interested in your donation, will contact you.

The Page for donations is here.

Organizations who may know where to donate used medical equipment near me

The following institutions and administrations should know where you can donate durable medical equipment –

• Your local Area Agency on Aging
• Social services office
• Local church communities
• Local town hall or chamber of commerce
• Local hospitals
• Emergency rooms
• Private clinics
• Faith based charities

Area Agencies on Aging

Area Agencies on Aging are  contracted to provide support to the elderly and their caregivers, to help them to remain independent.

This may include – instruction on healthy living, in home support and care, classes for caregivers, support with meals, dementia, and lots more.

Your agency will know about all the local nonprofits working with the elderly and the disabled, and who may welcome donations of used medical equipment

Aging and Independence Services is the region’s area agency on aging, and is under the umbrella of the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency.

The website is here – https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/hhsa/programs/ais/Services.html
 

San Diego County Social Services

Your county department of social services may also know where there are charities accepting donations of medical equipment.

The Department of Social Services in San Diego County is called the Health & Human Services Agency.

The webpage is on the San Diego County website here – https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/hhsa.html.

Lions Clubs

The Lions run many Charity programs, and a lot of Lions Clubs will run community loan closets for medical equipment.

You can use their locator tool to find a club near you and to find out if they have a loan closet, or can point you in the direction of a club in your area which does.

I have an illustrated guide explaining how to very quickly find a Lions Club near you, which you can read here.
 

Rotary Clubs

Just like the Lions, the Rotary organization does a huge amount of charity work, and runs lots of different programs through its clubs.

To find out if a club near you is taking donations of used medical equipment, or knows of clubs or other organizations in the area that are, you can use their locator tool.

I have an illustrated guide on how to very quickly locate a Rotary Club near you, that you can read here.

Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego

The Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego have a large range of services they provide for –

• food distribution
• food resource centers
• seniors
• immigrants
• refugees
• the homeless

The organization should be able to give you more information about other faith based charities to which you can donate used home medical equipment in the San Diego area, if they don’t want to accept it themselves.

You can contact them to get more information on their website here – https://ccdsd.org/
 

Society of St. Vincent de Paul, San Diego

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, San Diego provides services to those in need –

• food pantries
• a thrift store which provides donations to the needy
• information on government services

You can find out more information on their website here – https://svdp-sandiego.org/

Lutheran Social Services – Southern California

Lutheran Social Services have one specific program, they call Senior Companions, in San Diego County.

Senior Companions – Serves infirmed seniors in the community by pairing them with volunteer companions who can assist with errands and other household tasks, or simply provide conversation and friendship

You can contact them and ask if they have any seniors in the program in need of a donation of gently used medical equipment.

The program is listed on their website page here – https://www.lsssc.org/what-we-do/social-services/

Their address –

Lutheran Social Services of Southern California

999 Town and Country Road, Ste 100

Orange, CA 92868

Phone: 714 685 1800

The Jewish Family Service of San Diego

Quite a number of programs are run for older adults by the Jewish Family Service of San Diego, and you can see those here on their website – https://www.jfssd.org/our-services/older-adults/

You can always contact them and ask if they have anyone on one of their programs who may need any particular equipment that you wish to donate.

Phone: 858 637 3210

Address:

Jewish Family Service of San Diego

Joan and Irwin Jacobs Campus

Turk Family Center,

8804 Balboa Ave,

Sand Diego, CA 92123

The Rock Church C.A.R.E.

The Rock Church program provides a number of services to individuals with cancer, and they may also know of persons who would benefit from gifts of certain types of durable medical equipment.

Their website page for the program is here  – https://www.sdrock.com/ministries/cancercare/

You need to contact them by email, and the form is on the page I have linked to above.

Presbyterian Urban Ministries – San Diego

The re are a number of programs they provide for low income  families and individuals, so they too will know of persons who may benefit from donations of durable medical equipment.

I am providing a Facebook page for them, as their website appears to have been hacked at present – https://www.facebook.com/www.pumsd.org/

You can call them at  – 619 232 2753

Tax deductions on donations

If you make a donation to a registered charity, keep the receipts if you are hoping to get a tax deduction.

The IRS will require a receipt for the item.