Catholic Charities of Kansas City- St. Joseph (CCKCSJ) is pleased to be the recipient of the Disabled Veterans National Foundation (DVNF) Grant again this year. The DVNF Grant exists to provide critically needed support to disabled and at-risk veterans who leave the military wounded – physically or psychologically – after defending our safety and our freedom. This Grant aids Veterans who do not qualify for other services within the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program, and therefore helps Veterans who would otherwise fall through the cracks. Here are some of the ways in which we helped our Veteran neighbors recently with DVNF funds.
Utility Assistance: A Veteran contacted CCKCSJ with disconnection notices and came into the office. He explained that he only lives on his retirement veteran funds and keeps a watchful eye on his bills, but with his income being limited and only being paid monthly, he did not have enough to cover the total amount owed for his sewer and water bill. I explained the DVNF Grant and how it is specially designed to help Veterans like himself and how our organization can help to help him to stay in his home.
We helped another Veteran, aged 65, his electric bill was on the verge of disconnection, and he was seeking employment. CCKCSJ was able to help pay the total amount due for his Evergy bill and we discussed CCKCSJ’s Employment Services Program to aide him in obtaining employment. He felt no one is willing to offer an elderly man a job and he does not want to stay at home, he needed a source of income to continue to take care of his daily living expenses.
Rental Assistance: Another Veteran needed rental assistance, as she was unable to pay the lot rent for her mobile home. Her landlord informed her that if she did not pay the past due amount owed, he would remove her mobile home from the property with his truck. She was very upset as she had no options to secure a new lot and did not want to be living on the side of the road somewhere. I was able to speak with the landlord and asked how I could be of assistance with the rental payment to avoid eviction from the property. After some discussion and gathering the required documents, we were able to pay the past due amount owed.
Assisting Veterans through the DVNF funds is our mission and the goal is to ensure that Catholic Charities provides a continuation of services by identifying and accessing existing community resources and listening to the Veteran’s concerns and addresses them as appropriate. The benefit of DVNF Grant is to aid Veterans who have a need for financial assistance to ensure their housing stability, whether to help pay rent or utilities. Our Specialists work with Veterans to create stability plans and goals to assist Veterans in regaining independence, while simultaneously determining their unique needs and accessing community resources to achieve the dignity of independent living.
The DVNF Grant is very important to our local Veteran Community, this support allows Catholic Charities to serve and to lift those that may not otherwise qualify. If you need help, email assistance@ccharities.com.
Although not mentioned in this article, the DVNF Grant also supports basic needs such as food, hygiene, and clothes assistance.
Orignally published here : https://catholiccharities-kcsj.org/the-benefit-of-the-dvnf-grant-to-our-local-community/