Department
Chairman - Mary "Girl" Sanchez - girlisin@hotmail.com
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
Veterans,
service members and their families often face unexpected challenges and the VFW
Auxiliary is here to assist them in their time of need. Since its founding in
1914, the VFW Auxiliary has worked tirelessly to offer financial and moral
support to those who need it most.
The
Veterans & Family Support Program:
- Offers
support for veterans, service members and their families. Our Veterans &
Family Support Resource Card includes a list of 20 organizations and agencies
that offer support to veterans, service members and their families.
- Promotes
Veteran and Military Suicide Awareness and Prevention. Each day,
an estimated 20 veterans commit suicide. You can help lower this number and
make a difference in the life of a veteran or service member in crisis by
educating yourself and others about the warning signs of suicide.
- TheVeteran & Military Suicide Awareness Blue Teardrop Sticker is the VFW
Auxiliary’s symbol to give this issue the attention it so desperately needs.
Wear the teardrop to open a conversation; when asked what the teardrop is,
share that it’s to create awareness for veteran and military suicide.
- TheVeterans Crisis Line connects veterans in crisis and their families and friends
with qualified, caring Department of Veterans Affairs responders through a
confidential toll-free hotline, online chat, or text. Veterans and their loved
ones can call 1-800-273-8255 and Press 1, chat online, or send a text message
to 838255 to receive confidential support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365days a year. Support for deaf and hard of hearing individuals is available.
- Promotes
VFW’s National Veterans Service (NVS). VFW’s
National Veterans Service (NVS) helps veterans, service members and their
families obtain the benefits they deserve – free of charge. NVS provides a
nationwide network of more than 2,000 VA-accredited VFW Service Officers across
America and abroad who help hundreds of thousands of veterans navigate the
Veterans Affairs system each year. In 2018, VFW’s service officers recovered
more than $8.3 billion (yes, billion!) in earned benefits and compensation for
veterans and their dependents, which includes $1.4 billion in new claims.
Service officers assist all veterans, whether they are VFW members or not, in
filing claims for:
Disability
compensation
Rehabilitation
and education programs, including GI Bill benefits
Pension
and death benefits
Employment
and training programs
- Promotes
VFW’s Veterans & Military Support Programs. The VFW’s
Veteran & Military Support Programs serve active-duty and recently
discharged members of the military.
- VFW’s
"Sport Clips Help A Hero Scholarship” provides service members and veterans
with scholarships of up to $5,000 to complete their educational goals without
incurring excessive student load debt.
- Unmet
Needs is there to help America’s service members who have run into unexpectedfinancial difficulties. The program provides financial aid of up to $1,500 to
assist with basic life needs in the form of a grant – not a loan – so no
repayment is required. To further ease the burden, the creditor is paid
directly. The financial hardship must be due to one of the following.
- Currently
on active duty, whose financial hardship is a result of a current deployment,military pay error, or from being discharged for medical reasons.
- Discharged
on or after September 11, 2001, whose financial hardship is a direct result of your military service connected injuries and/or illnesses.
- Discharged
prior to September 11, 2001, are on a fixed income that must include compensation for a service connected injury/illness and facing an unexpected financial hardship.
- The
Military Assistance Program helps provide financial assistance to VFW Post and
Auxiliaries to sponsor troop send-offs, homecomings and get-togethers. Posts
and Auxiliaries participating in Adopt-A-Unit and Family Readiness Groups can
also receive assistance.
Veterans & Family Support
VFW Auxiliary Resource Rack Card
Veteran & Military Suicide Awareness
VFW’s National Veterans Service
NVS consists of a nationwide network of service officers who are experts in dealing with the claims process and help thousands of veterans cut through the bureaucratic red tape every year. They are the key to success, recovering approximately $1 billion in earned benefits and compensation for veterans each year.
VFW’s Veterans & Military Support Program