This December, all donations double!

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Give Hope to San Diego Youth This Holiday Season

Your holiday donation helps San Diego Youth Services provide safe housing, mental health support, and healing for homeless youth, foster youth, and trafficking survivors.

Why Your Gift Matters: Every night in San Diego, young people face homelessness, trauma, hunger, and the fear of having nowhere safe to turn. When you choose to donate to a nonprofit, your generosity reaches young people who need it most. Your holiday gift to San Diego Youth Services brings warmth, safety, and stability to youth who need it most.

Give the Gift of Safety & Hope

A holiday donation can mean the difference between a cold night on the streets and a safe, supportive place to stay. You can directly support homeless youth, trafficking survivors, foster youth, and young people in crisis, by making them feel seen, valued, and hopeful for their future.

Make a meaningful impact today. 

Donate Now

Your support provides:

  • Safe housing and shelter for homeless youth
  • Mental health counseling and crisis care
  • Emergency support and healing services for human trafficking survivors
  • Programs for foster youth transitioning into adulthood
  • Warm meals, clothing, and essential winter supplies

Your generosity delivers real, immediate help, and gives young people the chance to rebuild their lives. If you’ve been searching for ways to donate to homeless youth, your holiday gift directly changes young lives here in San Diego.

A girl making a heart with her hands, representing holiday giving and hope for vulnerable youth.

Youth Holiday Wish Lists

We asked the young people in our programs what they dream of for the holidays. Purchase an item off one of their Amazon wish lists to give directly to a child, teen or young adult.

Foster & Adoptions Wish List

Fulfill a Holiday Wish

Housing Essentials Wish List

Fulfill a Holiday Wish

Youth Drop-In Center Wish List

Fulfill a Holiday Wish

Domestic Violence & Trafficking Program Wish List

Fulfill a Holiday Wish

Give a Gift Card Help youth access essential items

A gift card is actually one of the most useful items for a youth to receive as it allows them to meet basic needs like:

  • groceries like fruit, vegetables or instant meals
  • hygiene items like shampoo, soap and tampons
  • warm clothes in their size like socks, sweaters and shoes
  • laundry detergent
  • other essentials

Best gift cards: Target, Walmart, or other grocery stores
No Amazon cards - youth often don’t have a mailbox

Target Gift Card
Walmart Gift Card

Youth Success Stories

Alona smiling

“We do not look like what we’ve been through! Many children who suffer from youth homelessness are couch surfing, staying at parks hidden and still attending school. We are a hidden but very real population of youth who aren’t so clearly seen. SDYS is working to help the hidden population of youth like me.”

- Alona, now gives back as an SDYS staff member
Monica

"I became homeless, sleeping behind shipping containers until my dad could figure out his next move...Then I was connected with San Diego Youth Services. Because of that support, I became the first in my family to graduate high school, with a 4.3 GPA, was accepted to most of the colleges I applied to, gained valuable work experiences, and built a stable, thriving life."

- Monica, who now attends UCSD
John

A year ago, John was just focused on survival. With no roof over his head and no real sense of direction, his goal was to make it through each day. “But then I found SDYS. They met me where I was, gave me support when I needed it most, and helped me cover the basics so I could finally do something I hadn’t done in a long time—dream."

- John, now training as an electrician