USA CARES INC

Coming home from military service can be painful and difficult and comes with a unique set of challenges. What was once a very structured routine has been turned upside down. There is a lack of organizational infrastructure and veterans now have to make their own decisions. They’ve lost their sense of purpose and direction. This period of transition, whether voluntary or not, can be a daunting task and, for others, a sometimes impossible one. Without support and guidance from friends and family, things can quickly go in the wrong direction.

Our goal is to reach families at the earliest stage of intervention in hopes of preventing further financial distress, depression, suffering, homelessness, or other potential risk factors for suicide. By giving veterans and service members a helping hand with their existing problems, we help restore their financial stability so they can move forward with a renewed sense of purpose on a path toward independence and self-sufficiency, rather than a path toward further hopelessness, depression and despair.

Our services are provided virtually, through phone and internet. The financial assistance provided by USA Cares is given in the form of grants which service members and their families do not have to repay. Financial assistance isn’t given directly to service members or their families, but to mortgage lenders, utility companies, and other vendors. When we’re initially contacted, our caring and experienced case managers respond within 48 hours and work with the service members one-on-one to verify all information provided in the application in order to assist them in finding solutions. The case managers will then submit a request to a virtual committee for approval. The virtual committee is made up of volunteers from a variety of backgrounds and different areas of expertise and can identify solutions case managers may not have been able to identify. The majority of our staff are also veterans or military family members who understand the problems our clients face. So, if we aren’t able to assist them, we work diligently and collaborate with other agencies to find the service member a solution to their problems.

The type of assistance that we provide varies from program to program and from client to client. We act quickly and respond to clients as if every case is an emergent one because we understand that, to them, it is an emergency. No two cases are alike and the assistance that USA Cares provides is tailored to the service member’s particular needs. We may pay their rent or mortgage so they can stay in their home. We may provide fuel cards so they can get to work. We may make car payments to avoid having them repossessed. We may pay their overdue electric or water bills to avoid having their services cut off by the utility companies. We may send food or grocery gift cards so they will not go hungry. We may assist them in updating their resumes to assist in their job searches at a Career & Education Expos to bring employers and job seekers together. We may do a combination of several of the above.

USA Cares operates a Family Resource Center with full time Case Managers and manages a website in which each family approved for assistance is assigned an advocate from our Family Resource Center who assures that assistance is timely and effective. These advocates often mobilize additional support for families from other military assistance groups, and the service member's community of local organizations. Additionally, USA Cares manages a website where applicants and clients are provided with supplementary resources to relieve their particular military-related hardship.

In 2001, the United States was propelled into a state of emergency on 9/11 and its military answered the call. Not long after, USA Cares was formed to help military families in financial crisis and we have done just that. To date, USA Cares has assisted thousands of military families in all 50 states and several U.S. territories across all branches of service with millions of dollars in assistance grants. We’ve provided assistance to members of all branches of service, including Reserves and National Guard. More importantly, we've saved countless lives of service members and the futures of the family members who love them.

Between 2011 and 2022, we provided $10,752,566.26 in financial assistance to help 10,895 military households with 18,848 bills that were essential to their well-being. With those funds, USA Cares made 5,119 payments to save families from homelessness, 3,427 car payments to avoid vehicle repossessions, 5,216 utility bills (including phone and internet) to restore connections, and provided 3,024 gift cards to families for food and/or fuel support.