A Select Veteran Resources Directory

The following organizations provide critical services to disabled OIF/OEF veterans and their families nationwide.
Visit their websites for information on how to contact a representative that serves your location.

Emergency Assistance Call Centers

Lifeline for Vets

"For a soldier who has returned to the homeland he or she has defended only to feel like "a stranger in a strange land" - full of fear, wracked with depression, and on the verge of despair - speaking to another veteran who "gets it" is crucial! The NVF and the Lifeline for Vets have helped countless American heroes - person-to-person, veteran-to-veteran... that's vital at a time when suicides among America's veterans have reached the rate of 18 a day! Over and again, Lifeline for Vets™ and its volunteer professionals have talked veterans back from the brink of taking their own lives. Over the past 21 years we have answered more than a quarter million calls and every day there are more and more." Contact

Wounded Warrior Resource Center Website & Wounded Warrior Call Center for Service Members, Families and Caregivers

The website provides information in the areas of military facilities, health care services, and benefits. It supports access to the Wounded Warrior Resource Call Center and trained specialists who are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by phone at 1-800-342-9647 or by e-mail at wwrc@militaryonesource.com to address concerns or answer questions during the recovery, rehabilitation and community reintegration. Assistance provided by the resource center does not replace the specialized wounded warrior programs established by each of the military services, rather it offers another avenue of information on and assistance with military facilities, health care services, and/or benefits information.

Emergency Financial Assistance

Armed Forces Foundation

Our goal is to provide financial assistance to as many military families as possible...we provide one-time grants...we support veterans within 18 months of their service discharge. View Website.

Coalition to Salute American Heroes

The Coalition to Salute America's Heroes (CSAH) was created to provide a way for individuals, corporations and others to help our severely wounded and disabled Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans and their families rebuild their lives. View Website

Operation First Response

IMPORTANT NOTE: No funds available - May 2010. The Mission of Operation First Response, Inc (OFR) is to support our nation's wounded Heroes and their families with personal and financial needs. OFR financial aid varies as each case is based on indiviual needs ranging from rent/mortgage payments, payment of over due utilities, vehicle payments and repairs, groceries, clothing, air transportation, and ground transportation which includes taxi rides to and from DC area airports, dollars given to purchase gas for traveling by car to medical facilities and train tickets. View Website

USACares

USA Cares exists to help bear the burdens of service by providing post-9/11 military families with financial and advocacy support in their time of need. Assistance is provided to all branches of service, all components, all ranks while protecting the privacy and dignity of those military families and veterans who request our help. USA Cares also helps veterans who have served since Sept 11, 2001, especially those who have been wounded or injured while in the service, providing emergency financial assistance to those who are dealing with "military-related (financial) hardships".

USA Cares also has saved hundreds of privately owned military family homes from foreclosure. The program offers budgetary counseling and negotiations with the mortgage holder to bring the account current. Additionally, USA Cares offers similar assistance to those military families facing eviction from rental properties. Together, these efforts have spared thousands of children from the potential trauma of being force to leave their home. Website.

Hope For The Warriors

The recovery process and transition to life beyond recovery can take an unexpected financial toll on a wounded service member and their family. Travel, lengthy stays at the bedside, loss of income and new needs can create stressful financial burdens. In order to help alleviate this added stress, Hope For The Warriors™ works daily with the wounded service member and family to meet their immediate needs, allowing time to focus on recovery. In addition, the immediate needs program seeks to alleviate added stress and unexpected expenses of family members of fallen service members, where a financial hardship is created by delays or shortfalls in government disbursements of death gratuity benefits and SGLI. The Immediate Needs program addresses needs that are a direct result of a service member's injury. Provides "Emergency assistance with essentials to daily living, i.e rent and utilities. This occurs during the transition between active duty and disability payments. Must be verified by active, i.e., duty chain of command or VA case worker." Website.

The 9-11 HelpAmerica Foundation

Our short term goals are to locate military families or individuals that have been affected by the War On Terror and try to help them with direct donations, and hopefully learn what their needs are and how we may be able to help. Our long term goals are to do a good job at our short term goals. To do this we need help ... Get involved, and together we can make a difference. Website

ReserveAid

ReserveAid makes grants to improve the education, health and well-being of Reserve service members (and veterans medically discharged since 2006) and their families when there is a genuine emergency need. View Website.

VFW Unmet Needs Program

The Unmet Needs Program provides emergency financial support to families of military personnel and current era veterans (within 36 months of their honorable discharge). One-time grants of up to $2500 are available. View Website.

USATogether

At USA Together, our mission is to use the power of the Internet to help the men and women of the US military who have suffered life-altering injuries in service to their country. By publishing specific needs for goods, financial assistance and services, we hope to connect injured service members and their families with those who are willing and able to assist them. View Website.

Debt Management Programs

The National Foundation for Debt Management is a 501(c)(3) educational organization based in Clearwater, Florida founded to help people better understand their personal finances and take control of their financial lives. NFDM has helped thousands of consumers achieve relief from crushing debt and has provided advice about personal financial matters to many thousands of others. Our certified counselors and educators have worked with schools, community groups, churches, charitable organizations and others to help citizens learn personal finance skills from the most basic to more advanced.Members of NFDM's debt management program have the opportunity to work with a certified credit counselor, a debt management expert who will walk you through a customized solution to your financial difficulties.
Visit NFDM website and call a counselor at 866-409-6336. It's free.

Foundation members who enroll in NFDM's debt management program may also benefit from the following:

Free Air Transportation For Medical Purposes

Air Compassion for Veterans

Air Compassion for Veterans (ACV) provides free air transportation to qualifying wounded warriors and veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and their adversely affected immediate family members, when the DoD and DVA cannot assist. Free flights are made available through commercial airline tickets, Angel Flight planes for less than 1,000 miles and air ambulance for those that are not ambulatory.

As a non-government organization, ACV is a non-bureaucratic operation that has the operational efficiency to serve wounded warriors/veterans with timely, efficient and free long-distance air transportation to military or VA medical facilities or other treatment facilities for specialized medical treatment; counseling by professionals trained in PTSD and TBI; rehabilitation programs to boost confidence in achieving victories over the physical and mental challenges of the injured; and access to service dogs to give veterans back their independent social skills and mobility. No other veteran transportation program functions at or near this level of performance or with the full scope of available medical transport options, which include commercial airline, private aircraft and air ambulance travel. ACV will provide free transportation to any treatment center, specialized counseling centers or venues that will promote healing. View the ACV website.

Mental Health Counseling and Support

The Soldier's Project

We are a group of licensed mental health professionals who offer free psychological treatment to military service members (active duty, National Guard, Reserves and veterans) who have served or who expect to serve in the conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan. We also provide treatment to members of their families and other loved ones. Treatment is conducted in our private offices. Our therapists are all volunteers and our services are entirely confidential. We do not report to any governmental agency. There is no red tape, there are no fees, and there is no arbitrary limit on the number of sessions provided. We see individuals, couples, children, and families. We configure our therapy to meet the client's needs. Because we are in private practice, we have the flexibility to see people prior to, during and/or following return from deployment and to keep in touch via phone or the internet if needed. Visit the Soldier's Project website.

VA Vet Centers: Readjustment Counseling For Veterans And Their Families

Vet Center counselors provide a wide variety of services to combat veterans in the effort to ease their transition from military to civilian life. Services include individual counseling, group counseling, marital and family counseling, bereavement counseling, medical referrals, assistance in applying for Veterans Affairs (VA) Benefits, employment counseling, guidance and referral to alcohol/drug assessments, information and referral to community resources, military sexual trauma counseling & referral, outreach and community education.

The VA's readjustment counseling is provided at no cost at 232 community-based Vet Centers located near veterans and their families in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Contact your nearest Vet Center through the on-line Vet Center Directory

Important Note: Rebuild Hope recommends that all veterans applying for assistance through its financial support network first establish a relationship with a Vet Center counselor who can provide broad assistance and serve as a personal reference for them in our application process.

Give an Hour™: Free Private Sector Counseling for Caregivers, Veterans and their Families

Give an Hour is as nationwide network of mental health professionals who donate an hour of their time each week to provide free mental health services to military personnel, veterans and their families. Our goal is to provide easy access to skilled professionals for all of the people affected by the current war. The participating mental health professionals offer a wide range of services including individual, marital, and family therapy; substance abuse counseling; treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder; and counseling for individuals with traumatic brain injuries. Whether it is a young military wife who is anxious because her four-year-old has had nightmares since her husband's deployment or a father who is struggling to cope with his son's loss of a leg as a result of an explosion in Iraq, both will receive the assistance they need to move through their experience. The healthier the support system for the returning troops, the lower the risk of severe or prolonged dysfunction within these military families. Visit the Give an Hour™ website.

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)

At the heart of NAMI's mission is its grassroots and the sharing of information with people with mental illness, their families, friends, mental health professionals, and the general public. NAMI strives to offer hope, reform and health to our American community through support, education and advocacy efforts. Research is constantly providing new information about the brain and the nature of mental illnesses and, consequently, more effective treatments. NAMI has a state organization in all 50 states as well as in Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. There are also more than 1,200 local affiliates spanning all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Visit the NAMI™ website.

Federal Government Benefits & Care

Veterans Administration

OIF/OEF program management teams provide a broad set of care management services to service members and veterans as they transition to the Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare system. They also provide supportive services to family members. These teams aim to help patients maximize the benefits they receive from taking advantage of VA rehabilitation and treatment programs. All OIF/OEF veterans entering the VA system are encouraged to contact an OIF/OEF team and ask for their help. Contact the nearest VA hospital or clinic to identify the OIF/OEF team responsible for your area.

The American Veterans and Service Members Survival Guide

Veterans for America is proud to release The American Veterans and Service members Survival Guide. It is free and available for download here. The new Survival Guide is a follow-up to the 1985 national bestseller, The Viet Vet Survival Guide. Just as the earlier book was a must-read for Vietnam veterans, the new book will prove an invaluable resource for the 1.7 million service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the 24 million veterans of past conflicts, and the families of all our troops and veterans. Unlike the earlier guide, the new Survival Guide is free. The new book is as much a roadmap as a reference manual, detailing the benefits, assistance and resources available as well as the step-by-step directions for navigating the bureaucracies that serve our troops and veterans. The new Survival Guide contains 28 chapters, including 17 for veterans and their families and 11 for active-duty service members, National Guard members and reservists, and their families. From legal to health services, job assistance to women's issues, the new Survival Guide is designed to meet everyone's needs. Download Now.

Compensation And Benefits Handbook For Seriously Ill and Injured Members of the Armed Forces

This is a good synopsis of the benefits and services provided by multiple U.S. government agencies. TurboTAP.org is Department of Defense's official website providing information for servicemembers on transitioning from military service. This site is also supported by the Departments of Labor and Veterans Affairs. TurboTAP.org is intended to supplement the services offered by the Transition Assistance Offices and other groups. Download a copy.

Service-Connected Disability Compensation - Rates Effective 12/01/08

Disability compensation (US Code Title 38 Chapter 11) is a tax-free benefit paid to a veteran for disabilities that are a result of or made worse by injuries or diseases that happened while on active duty, active duty for training, or certain inactive duty training. Disability compensation is also paid to certain veterans disabled from VA health care. View Compensation Rates

2010 Veterans Healthcare Benefits Handbook

This unique handbook, written for veterans, gives you everything you need to know about: how to apply, veterans service centers, choosing a facility, changing a facility, second opinions, prescriptions, dental care, chiropractic care, non-VA care, travel, POW benefits, appeals, grievances, confidentiality, financial issues, means testing, hardship determinations, waivers, medication co-payments, health insurance and a complete listing of VA facilities. Download a copy.

A Guide For Military Families - Returning From The War Zone

Published by the National Center for PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), this publication explains

Traumatic Injury Protection Under Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (TSGLI) Program

The Traumatic Injury Protection Under Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (TSGLI) program is a rider to Servicemember's Group Life Insurance (SGLI). The TSGLI rider provides for payment to service members who are severely injured (on or off duty) as the result of a traumatic event and suffer a loss that qualifies for payment under TSGLI. TSGLI payments are designed to help traumatically injured service members and their families with financial burdens associated with recovering from a severe injury. TSGLI payments range from $25,000 to $100,000 based on the qualifying loss suffered. As long as the service member experienced the traumatic event while in service and covered by SGLI, they can apply for the benefit even if they have since been discharged. Learn more about TSGLI

Veterans Benefits Claims Assistance

Disabled Veterans Association

Disabled American Veterans has never wavered in our commitment to serve our nation's service-connected disabled veterans, their dependents and survivors. Our largest endeavor in fulfilling that mission is our National Service Program. In 88 offices throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico, the DAV employs a corps of approximately 260 National Service Officers (NSOs) who represent veterans and their families with claims for benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Defense and other government agencies. Veterans need not be DAV members to take advantage of this outstanding assistance, which is provided free of charge.

NSOs function as attorneys-in-fact, assisting veterans and their families in filing claims for VA disability compensation and pension; vocational rehabilitation and employment; education; home loan guaranty; life insurance; death benefits; health care and much more. They provide free services, such as information seminars, counseling and community outreach. NSOs also represent veterans and active duty military personnel before Discharge Review Boards, Boards for Correction of Military Records, Physical Evaluation Boards and other official panels. View the DVA website.

Veteran Service Officer Directory

Veterans need not be alone in their battles for benefits and medical care. Veteran Service Officers will help you navigate the VA's bureacracy, and their services are free. They will help with gathering the information necessary to support a claim, filing the claim, and tracking the claim through the VA system. They can also assist with filing appeals for denied claims. We strongly recommend that you make use of the services provided by VSOs. Their expertize can help you avoid the pitfalls and delays that missing paperwork or improperly filled out claim forms can cause. As a convienience, the National Veterans Foundation (NVF) provides direct links to the service organizations with nationwide networks, and to the State offices that provide claim representation. You can use those links to find a VSO near you. Alternatively, you can call the NVF at 888 777-4443 and we will help you locate a VSO.

Pain Management

Exit Wounds

Hundreds of thousands of troops are returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them in acute pain and facing the possibility of a lifetime of chronic pain. Written by a wounded Iraq war veteran in collaboration with pain management experts at the American Pain Foundation, Exit Wounds and its companion website, offer veterans and their families need-to-know information about:

In addition to providing practical advice on pain management, the author shares his own inspiring story of how one man, with the support of his family and fellow vets, "locked on" to a mission to survive and thrive despite near-death and a painful path to recovery. Learn more.

Reconstructive Surgery

Iraq Star Foundation

Founded in 2007, the Iraq Star Foundation provides reconstructive aesthetic surgical procedures to our wounded military and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Free surgical procedures including shrapnel removal, scar revisions, teeth replacement, burn scar treatments etc. are provided to aid the wounded in building confidence to re-enter their pre-war lives whether it be back into the civilian arena or military duty. Iraq Star's Mission is to prevent these wars from permanently disfiguring young lives. Iraq Star is a national foundation with over 225 Board Certified plastic and reconstructive surgeons located in 42 states. The Foundation pays for the warrior's transportation, hotel accommodation, food, anesthesia, operating room, medications, etc. and sends a loved one with them. Visit the ISF website.

Foreclosure Avoidance Assistance

USACares

USA Cares has saved hundreds of privately owned military family homes from foreclosure. The program offers budgetary counseling and negotiations with the mortgage holder to bring the account current. Additionally, USA Cares offers similar assistance to those military families facing eviction from rental properties. Together, these efforts have spared thousands of children from the potential trauma of being force to leave their home. USACare services are also available to OIF/OEF veterans and their families. View Website.

Foreclosure Avoidance Assistance - HUD

Are mortgage payments dragging you and your family down? There is no better time than now to enlist the support of an expert who could help you renegotiate existing loan agreements. This is a FREE service offered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Contact a counselor today

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Foreclosure Avoidance Assistance - VA

"The VA is reaching out to veterans -- both those who use our home-loan guaranty program and those who don't take advantage of our guaranties -- to keep people in their homes," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B. Peake. "I'm proud of our solid record of success in helping veterans and active-duty personnel deal with financial crises."

Accounting for much of this success are VA counselors at nine regional loan centers who assist people with VA-guarantied loans avoid foreclosure through counseling and special financing arrangements. The counselors also can assist other veterans with financial problems. VA counselors have helped about 74,000 veterans, active-duty members and survivors keep their homes since 2000, a savings to the government of nearly $1.5 billion. Depending on a veteran's circumstances, VA can intercede with the borrower on the veteran's behalf to pursue options -- such as repayment plans, forbearance, and loan modifications -- that would allow a veteran to keep a home.

To obtain help from a VA financial counselor, veterans can call VA toll-free at 1-877-827-3702.

Physical & Mental Fitness

Outward Bound Wilderness Adventure

Outward Bound, a 45-year old non-profit outdoor, adventure-education organization, is looking for OEF and OIF Veterans, interested in participating in fully- funded reintegration wilderness expeditions. Adventures are physically, mentally and emotionally stimulating and work to build the self-confidence, trust, and communication skills necessary to successfully return to their families and communities following war time service. Goals of the program are to provide a positive outdoor experience for military veterans that will enable them to experience the healing benefits of the natural world and benefit from quality environmental education. Check it Out

Home Repair & Modifications

Rebuilding Together - Veterans Housing Program

Millions of U.S. veterans are in desperate need of repairs and adaptations to their homes. Rebuilding Together's Veterans Housing was created to meet the growing needs of veterans from past and present wars. Rebuilding Together fills the gaps in modifications and repair services that retired and active service men and women struggle to meet. In partnership with corporate sponsors, Rebuilding Together's Veterans Housing strives to provide safe and accessible housing for all low-income veterans. Visit the Rebuilding Together website and find an affiliate in your area.

Regional Veteran Support Collaboratives

California Statewide Collaborative

The California Statewide Collaborative ("CASC" or "Collaborative") is an informal community of more than 50 private and public organizations including the US military and Veterans Administration who help injured veterans and their families. While its members are mostly located in California the Collaborative works closely with similar-minded individuals and organizations in other states. Members meet about every 6 weeks at Moffett Field. Contact: Mary Ellen Salzano at maryellen_salzano@yahoo.com (View)

East Bay Collaborative (Alemeda, CA)

The East Bay Collaborative is an open forum promoting the exchange of information and resources for the care of military, veterans and families. We support building fully integrated partnerships of Federal, State, Local, and Community Services. Members meet about every 6 weeks in Alameda. View the downloadable directory. Contacts: Mary Dudum at mdfun5@aol.com and ed dieden at eddieden44@yahoo.com

CA Collaborative Community Calendar

The California Collaborative Community Calendar ("Calendar") is an online service that enables users to easily share plans for upcoming events of general interest to the members of the various military and veterans support collaboratives ("Collaborative") operating in California.

Online Resource Directories

War Trauma Resources Directory

An unusually comprehensive AND easy-to-use directory for helping veterans, service members and their families find a wide variety of available resources. Unlike most directories this one actually provides a clear description of what each organization does so you can avoid endless web searching. The War Trauma Resources is published by Ray Scurfield, professor of social work at The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast, has recently published books and articles exploring the effects of post traumatic stress disorder in both combat veterans and disaster survivors. This directory is updated regularly.

National Resource Directory

This online directory introduced in November 2008 and maintained by the Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs provides information on, and access to, services and resources for wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans, their families and families of the fallen, and those who support them from recovery and rehabilitation to community reintegration. The Directory includes links to services and information provided by federal, state and local governmental agencies; veteran service and benefit organizations; non-profit community-based and faith-based organizations; academic institutions, professional associations and philanthropic organizations. The easy-to-use Directory is organized by categories of assistance and searchable by geographical location.

Warrior Care Program for Service Members and Their Families

The Warrior Care website is a web portal that links to programs and information resources that active-duty military, veterans, family members and concerned neighbors can use to get answers and ideas for where to obtain help.

If you are having financial problems now or think you may have them in the future, go to your Military Financial Assistance Center for assistance. Help can range from individual counseling on money matters to emergency loans. In addition, the Family Center usually offers group seminars and workshops on several topics: Financial planning for transition, family budgets and spending plans, record keeping, insurance, credit, credit, debt liquidation, consumer rights, taxes and investments. Learn more.