Expanded Emergency Financial Assistance Available For Wounded Warriors
Jacksonville, FL (November 27, 2012) – Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) and Operation Homefront today announced a partnership that will extend emergency financial assistance to military service members and veterans who incurred a physical or mental injury, illness, or wound, which was not due to their own misconduct, co-incident to their military service on or after September 11, 2001 and their families.
Funded by WWP, the requests for assistance will be taken and fulfilled by Operation Homefront starting December 3. Emergency assistance will be in the form of cash grants paid to service providers to cover the most basic of needs – food, rent, utilities, etc. Warriors will have to prove a financial need exists and requests for assistance can be submitted online at www.OperationHomefront.org.
“Operation Homefront’s primary focus is providing emergency financial assistance to the families of those deployed and to our Wounded Warriors during and after their recovery and transition,” said Jim Knotts, Operation Homefront’s president and CEO. “For years we have wanted to extend our eligibility to cover more Warriors. We currently provide assistance for two years after a service member has separated from the military, and now we can help many more who have been affected by 9/11.”
WWP offers 18 diverse programs and services designed to provide economic empowerment to help Wounded Warriors get back on track. “At WWP we set up our programs and services to ensure Wounded Warriors and their families are healing their minds and bodies for a lifetime, but we also realize there are times when an urgent financial need arises,” said Steve Nardizzi, executive director, Wounded Warrior Project. “We know other organizations like Operation Homefront provide important services and the path to fulfilling our vision of the most successful and well-adjusted generation of wounded veterans in our nation’s history lies in collaboration with these organizations.”
”This is an amazing example of nonprofit teamwork, which plays to the strengths of both organizations,” continued Knotts. “Nonprofits have to work smarter, work together more often, and find ways to collaborate with the public sector to ensure our Wounded Warriors receive the support they will need after the current deployments end. Our country has more than 50,000 wounded and injured from Iraq and Afghanistan, who will need support for decades to come.”
WWP and Operation Homefront will continue to look for ways to collaborate in order to best serve Wounded Warriors, including synergies between WWP’s Resource Center, a support center that provides resources and tools to warriors and their families.
Operation Homefront
A national nonprofit that provides financial and other emergency assistance to the families of service members and wounded warriors, Operation Homefront has a nationwide presence and has met more than 590,000 needs of military families since its inception in 2002. A four-star rated charity by watchdog Charity Navigator, nationally, 94 percent of total revenue donated to Operation Homefront goes directly to assist service members. For more information, go to www.OperationHomefront.org
Wounded Warrior Project®
The mission of Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP’s purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. To get involved and learn more, visit www.woundedwarriorproject.org