Family resources - Marine Corps Times

Fund for injured veterans hits VA snag

Wounded Iraq war veteran Jimmy King and his wife, Beth, were two months behind on their rent and utilities, and other bills were mounting, just weeks before the birth of their first baby.

Then, Families of the Wounded Fund came to their rescue in June with a $5,000 check.

“It was really a lifesaver,” said King, who was medically retired as a sergeant from the Marine Corps in November because of injuries from a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004. His left leg was amputated above the knee, and head injuries cost him most of his hearing in his left ear and caused vision problems.

He moved from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, to the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Va., early this year. Some glitches delayed his full disability pay from the Department of Veterans Affairs until May. His wife works from home but had to take time off because she was having problems with the pregnancy, and they had used up their savings.

Families of the Wounded Fund, fueled by donations from the local community and around the country, gives $5,000, no strings attached, to next of kin who are at McGuire with a recuperating service member injured in combat or in support of combat operations.

Many groups make payments directly to landlords or other companies on behalf of a service member, but few, if any, provide such a large sum directly to families of the wounded.

“We paid all our back bills,” Jimmy King said. “We got caught up on our car and truck payments and got everything we needed for the baby.”

Hunter was born prematurely July 16 and was still in the hospital a month later.

The Kings were lucky; they found the fund through a source other than VA. But the group has hit an unexpected obstacle with VA officials at McGuire, who have required the fund’s support to be in the form of gift cards since the group formed in 2005.

The group relies on the hospital to alert it when families arrive as caregivers for their injured service members and to screen the families to ensure they qualify under the organization’s guidelines, said Cal Esleeck, a Richmond CPA and president of the fund. But VA will not help with information on families of the wounded at the hospital unless the fund agrees to give its aid as gift cards.

“It’s hard to pay bills with a gift card,” Esleeck said. “A lot of family members have lost jobs because they couldn’t return to work. We’d like to give them a cashier’s check so they can use it for whatever they need.”

The fund is working with VA on a solution. “We really don’t like the idea of sitting here with money in the checkbook and not being able to help families,” Esleeck said.

VA takes general donations of money and items intended for families, but it does not accept donations earmarked for specific families, said Laura Balun, VA director of voluntary services. “We don’t want to go on the wards handing out cash,” she said.

Esleeck said the fund’s donors expect the money to go directly to families, not through VA.

“Our mission is as simple as it gets . . . raise money, put it in the bank, and give it to the families. It’s the right thing to do.”