Locations
ReCARES collects, redistributes, and encourages reuse throughout its 3 Bay Area locations. Our volunteers receive and redistribute donations of clean, gently used medical equipment and unused home health care supplies each week. These are provided free of charge to those in need who visit our sites.
Please read the Donor and Recipient FAQs for more information. If after reading our website, you still have questions, leave us a message by calling one of the numbers below:
Oakland
Open Hours: Fridays, 12 PM-4 PM. Open every week, except for major holidays or announced closures.
Address: 2619 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612. In the underground parking lot behind the 1st Presbyterian Church. Entrance via 27th St. GoogleMap link
Phone: 510-251-2273
Entrance on 27th St, via Parking lot behind the 1st Presbyterian Church.
San Francisco
Open Hours: Thursdays, 10 AM-3 PM.
Address: 63 Dorland Street, San Francisco, CA 94110.
Phone: 415-487-5405
Marin County
To learn more about our location in Marin County, please visit their website www.marinmer.org
Open Hours: Wednesdays, 11 AM-2 PM
Address: 3100 Kerner Blvd, San Rafael, CA 94901
Phone: 415-388-8198
Commonly available items for recipients
What items can I donate?
ReCARES accepts donations of clean, new, or gently used medical equipment and unused home health care supplies. All items must be in excellent condition and clean with no damage, dirt, corrosion, stains, or rust.
What items you can't take?
Currently, we are not accepting knee/back/arm/leg braces, pharmaceuticals, IV fluids and IV supplies, feeding supplements, needles, syringes, ostomy supplies, drainage supplies, urinary supplies (such as catheters, drainage bags, etc.), respiratory supplies including oxygen and C-pap machines.
Sometimes, our volunteers might still reject “commonly accepted” items when you bring them to the site. We understand that this might be frustrating, but we ask you to understand that these decisions are made in order to better serve our operations. There are many reasons why we can't accept them right now, such as:
- Storage Space
- Overstock
- Little demand or no takers
- Safety or hygiene-related concerns
Please, help us help by respecting these restrictions.
When can I donate?
Donations of equipment are only accepted during open hours at any of our sites. Leaving items at our doors at any other time jeopardizes our site leases.
What the press has said about ReCARES
Bay Area Newspaper Group Article “Making lives better by recycling medical equipment”
By Dr. Kate Scannell
Years ago, a patient was slowly wheeled into my examination room by her two laboring adult daughters. The patient's wheelchair creaked and thumped as it rolled through the doorway — clearly an antique, and clearly an aerobic workout for her panting daughters. “The wheel's broken,” one daughter explained. “We can't find anyone who knows how to replace it, and we can't afford a new chair.”
Later, during a private moment with the patient, she told me . . . Click here to read the entire article.