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USA Cares Grants Nearly $200,000 To Virginia Military Families

USA Cares Grants Nearly $200,000 To Virginia Military Families

Published 09-16-08

Submitted by USA Cares, Inc.

RADCLIFF, KY. - September 16, 2008 - USA Cares Inc., a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping military families, has donated almost $200,000 over five years to service members living in Virginia. The grants were used for getting treatment for wounded soldiers, saving homes from foreclosure, and assisting with basic needs during times of serious financial crisis.

Since 2003, these donations saved 10 Virginia military families from losing their home to foreclosure, and overall 445 families have received grants. In 2007, 161 requests came in from Virginia. USA Cares has received 101 requests for help in the first seven months of 2008.

"Today's military families are facing a perfect storm: multiple deployments, rising gas and food prices, the sub-prime mortgage mess, and a struggling economy. Coupled with visible and invisible wounds of war, many families can’t win this battle without our assistance," Roger Stradley, founder of USA Cares, said. Members of any branch of the military serving post 9/11 and their families can apply for help.

USA Cares has worked with military families since it was founded in 2003. Since then, the organization has responded to over 11,000 requests for help with more than $5 million in direct assistance grants. On the housing front, USA Cares is a recognized leader in mortgage loss prevention assistance for the military. In the future, USA Cares hopes to work with other partners to field a program for post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury victims who lack the financial resources to attend the treatment they need and deserve, ensuring that the service member doesn’t have to choose between groceries or treatment.

Nationally, USA Cares receives more than 100 new requests for assistance a week. Dedicated staff and volunteers work through each one with the determination and commitment to assist these families as quickly as possible. "USA Cares is out there actually providing financial assistance to solve these problems "“ we’re not just talking about them," USA Cares Executive Director Bill Nelson said.

For example, in Port Royal, USA Cares paid $1,100 in rent when a medical crisis struck to keep a family with three children in the home. In Culpeper, the organization took care of $1,400 in rent when the service member was assigned to a Warrior Transition Unit for chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And in Stafford, USA Cares helped with a $410 utility payment because the National Guard service member had delays transitioning to active duty.

There are more than 20 military installations in Virginia, including the Pentagon; Fort Belvoir, home to several Army command headquarters, 16 different agencies of the Army, and nine Department of Defense agencies; Marine Corps Base Quantico, location of Marine Corps Combat Development Command; Naval Station Norfolk, home of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and the largest naval installation in the world, serving a regional population of 1.4 million people; and Langley Air Force Base, which Air Combat Command calls home.

USA Cares embarked on a national fundraising campaign on July 4. Share A Minute will raise funds by asking Americans to donate $25 to represent one minute of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine's full 525,000-minute annual tour of duty. Those minutes quickly add up to create hardships for soldiers and their families during deployment or when they return, and it costs USA Cares $25 a minute to help these families.

This level of support will ensure that USA Cares can meet all the needs of military personnel and their families not only through the present twin crises of PTSD/TBI and housing, but also the economic challenges yet to come.

Stradley said there is no doubt that Americans will help by donating. "Our nation, including the residents of Virginia, has a level of compassion that is unmatched in the world. This nation's defenders need help, and it's now our duty to come to their aid."

To share a minute, go to http://www.usacares.org/ and click on the Share A Minute logo or call 1-800-773-0387 for more information.

About USA Cares and Share A Minute
USA Cares is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that helps military families bear the burdens of service with financial and advocacy support. Its mission: to assist wounded warriors and their families, to prevent home foreclosures and evictions and to help with basic needs during financial crisis. Share A Minute asks Americans to donate $25 to represent one minute of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine’s full 525,000 minute tour of duty. In its five and one-half years of operation, USA Cares has responded to over 11,000 requests for assistance, saved 465 military family homes from foreclosure or eviction thus sparing over 1,000 children from uncertainty. Families anywhere in America can apply for assistance through the USA Cares web site, http://www.usacares.org/, or by calling 1-800-773-0387. For more information on USA Cares contact jrevell@usacares.org.

USA Cares, Inc. logo

USA Cares, Inc.

USA Cares, Inc.

USA Cares exists to help service members and their families across America and around the globe. USA Cares provides support with relevant and direct assistance that improves challenging situations and betters the life and well-being of America's service members who ask so little, yet give so very much. Helping service members and their families with quality of life issues using grants, counseling and mentorship.

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