What We Do
"Again and again, Americans have demonstrated their unmatched compassion and generosity, helping millions of people around the world who experienced severe hardships. It's hard to imagine a greater humanitarian cause than helping our own service members and veterans who personally suffer from the lasting and life-altering wounds of war. Thousands of men and women are struggling along with their families with major financial problems we cannot count on our government to solve. Americans can no longer ignore this silent crisis."
- Dana Hendrickson, Founder, Rebuild Hope.
Rebuild Hope harnesses the powerful combination of Internet technologies and the collective capacity of individual donors.
The Rebuild Hope online financial support network efficiently brings donors and recipients together. Current and former members of the military describe their personal situations and submit specific requests for financial assistance, donors select one of several ways to help them and volunteers make the underlying Rebuild Hope service work.
To qualify beneficiaries must either serve or have served in the regular military services, National Guard or Reserves during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) or Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)(Afghanistan) and suffer from life-altering physical injuries or mental health problems that have either led or will lead to a medical service discharge.
More than 15,000 service men and women have been severely injured
The on-going wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have taken a huge toll on US Armed Services - including the regular services, National Guard and the Reserves - and their families. As of August 1, 2008 almost 15,000 service men and women had suffered injuries that prevent them from returning to active duty*.
The Veterans Administration (VA) estimates that many more already suffer psychological problems and brain trauma injuries that are currently undiagnosed. An even larger number of family members will need to care for the injured - often indefinitely.
American is experiencing a silent humanitarian crisis
Our injured military do receive excellent medical care through military medical facilities and a nationwide network of U.S. Veterans Administration Hospitals. However, soldiers and their families have critical needs - both medical and non-medical in nature - that far exceed the total resources delivered to them by their government, traditional not-for-profit relief services and individual donors. This is true for both active and retired military. This reality surprises many Americans who expect their country would not permit this "silent humanitarian crisis" to persist.
The families of injured soldiers face big financial problems
Stressful for any American family, financial instability commonly intensifies the anxiety, aggression and depression felt by injured soldiers and undermines their efforts to rebuild their own lives.
- Family relationships weaken or dissolve - divorce and homelessness are common.
- Injured soldiers fail to take full advantage of available medical care. They stop seeking help and "drop-out" of treatment programs.
- They make poor decisions that worsen their financial situations and dig themselves deeper into debt.
There are may reasons why injured soldiers and their families face financial difficulties.
- Family income usually drops significantly once an injured soldier is medically discharged. A soldier fortunate to have earned an annual military income of $22,000 receives only $11,000 in disability when discharged with a 50% rating. Other sources of income generally do not come close to replacing their military pay.
- The disability benefit system is believed by many to be deeply flawed. Disability rulings are viewed as too conservative and unfairly favorable to the government and the appeal process is lengthy and unpredictable. Even when an appeal is successful pay outs occur many months after the appeal was initiated.
- Consumer credit is frequently used to fund basic living expenses and financial penalties mount rapidly on expanding unpaid balances.
- Many families have home mortgages with monthly payments that consume most of their income.
- Injured soldiers and their families are not reimbursed for many of their travel expenses when they are treated at distant medical facilities. And eligible reimbursements are not immediate.
Americans are known for their generous humanitarian efforts
We have quickly responded to tragic events - both natural and manmade - both outside the U.S. and at home. The destructive Katrina hurricane (2005) and Indian Ocean Earthquake (2004) are just two examples. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have also produced great hardships - this time for U.S. military families, a huge on-going problem that requires an even greater on-going humanitarian response from their fellow Americans.
Rebuild Hope makes it easy for you to help and see your impact
Rebuild Hope empowers you to make donations to identified individuals with specified critical needs while shielding you from the bureaucracy, regulations and privacy issues common to most large military non-profits. Through Rebuild Hope you can help our families stabilize their financial situations, rebuild themselves and create better futures.
Even $25.00 donations can make a big difference in a family's quality of life.
Through Rebuild Hope individual beneficiaries and families can receive up to $2400 in a 12 month period. While that may not seem like a lot, consider that after paying for housing and utilities many families live on less than $800 a month! Rebuild Hope intends to raise the amount provided to individuals as our donor capacity allows.
When you review the beneficiary profiles on this website you will appreciate the collective power of even small donations of less than $100.00. They can add up quickly to fulfill an important need.
The Rebuild Hope team consists entirely of volunteers.
Volunteers also make a big contribution to the success of our community. They expand our community by sharing their own Rebuild Hope experiences with family members, friends and co-workers and they operate the Rebuild Hope. The big result: we operate at a level of efficiency far above most other non-profit military support organizations.
* The Department of Defense website reports the most up-to-date information on war casualties