Emergency Assistance

Assistance League’s Emergency Assistance Committee is ready to spring into action whenever our community faces an emergency.

The Committee works closely with the Northern Nevada International Center and provides shopping trips for the children of refugee families that come to Reno from many places throughout the world.

The Committee works with other area nonprofits to provide vouchers for our Thrift Shop for emergency shopping, particularly for household items.

The Committee also coordinates with other nonprofit agencies throughout our area to make sure our efforts are needed and not duplicated. We work closely with VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster), which coordinates efforts in disasters for the state of Nevada, and the Washoe County Emergency Management Office, which coordinates efforts in our county.

In Fiscal 2023-2024, through our special shopping events, we were able to cloth 54 children ranging from preschool through high school ages.  We used 23 vouchers for the thrift store for refugee adults, domestic violence victims and local Red Cross clients.

We also purchased 30 bus passes for homeless community members who come to our thrift store requesting help with free clothing. Passes are used to transport homeless to Good Shepherd’s Closet, one of our 501(c) 3 partners.

As you can see from the picture, we have a great time helping new refugee families.