The ReCARES Network

ReCARES is a local non-profit environmental and community service that helps families take care of their loved one's mobility and safety needs at home.

Welcome To ReCARES!

COVID-19 Safety Guidelines:

In order to be mindful of COVID-19 safety precautions, please wear a mask upon visiting and throughout your visit, and please be mindful of social distancing guidelines while waiting. Thank you.

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

Entrance on 27th St via Parking lot to the Garage

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.

Commonly accepted items include wheelchairs, transfer wheelchairs, 4-wheel walkers, standard walkers, shower benches and chairs, raised toilet seats, toilet rails, transfer boards, bed rails, and canes.  Additionally, small items like sock aids, grabbers, gate belts, shoe horns, cushions, blood pressure monitors, bed alarms, and eyeglasses can be donated at our sites.
 
ReCARES also accepts donations of adult briefs (diapers), bed liners (chux), wipes, and gloves. You are welcome to donate personal hygiene items that are unopened.

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.